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By WILLIAM JONES, F.S.A., 

AUTHOR OF THE "TREASURES OF THE EARTH," ETC. ce 

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" Thy universal works are full of Thee, o 

The least, the greatest— each and all divine ! %n 
While Nature, eloquent of Deity, 

Holds everywhere her mild triumphant sign, lie 

Through which Thine everlasting glories shine ! , 

The changing seasons and the march of time, ; Cl. 

The trees, the flowers, the fields, the rivers, Thine ! • i 

Heaven, earth, and sea, in one harmonious chime, li > 

Hymn forth the Holy God — the Beautiful — Sublime !" j-q 

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TO MY YOUNGEST SOW, 1 

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PREFACE. 




HAVE endeavoured, in the following pages, to impress 
upon the youthful mind some of the grand and wonder- 
ful objects of creative excellence in the u Broad, Broad 
Ocean." The subject is exhaustless. I have been able only to 
treat upon a few of its most salient and interesting features, such 
as the young — always ardent and impressionable — would be most 
likely to appreciate. 

A portion of this volume was written at a very sequestered 
coast of North Devon — Croyde Bay, a few miles from Barnstaple, 
where I had ample opportunities of witnessing a glorious expanse 
of ocean in all its features : calm and serene as Wordsworth de- 
scribes it — 

"The gentleness of Heaven is on the sea. 
Listen! The Mighty Being is awake, 
And doth with His eternal motion make 
A sound like thunder, everlastingly;" 

or in tempestuous gales, when we see 

"The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and fbam, 
To be exalted with the threatening clouds. " 

My youngsters were lively amateur fishers, captors of prawns and 



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viii PREFACE. 



shrimps, and occasional takers of small strange fish, the birth and 
parentage of which became a marine study to us in the evening. 
I find that occasional visits to the sea-side open the young in- 
quiring mind, and prepare it for the reception of more serious 
and thoughtful studies of the ocean — 

" The paragon of elemental powers, 
Mystery of waters, never-slumbering sea ! 
Impassioned orator with lips sublime, 
Whose waves are arguments which prove a God." 

I trust that the present work will be received with the same 
favour as its " companion " volume, the " Treasures of the Earth," 
which, although but recently published, has had the honour of a 
second edition. 



Broadgate, 

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CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE WORLD OF WATERS. 

Vastness and sublimity of the creation — The ocean a theme foi 
poetry — The ocean essential to the existence of man and vegetation — 
Marine productions — Wonder and mystery in regard to the ocean — 
What is water ? — Saltness of the ocean — Currents — The Gulf-Stream 

— Its effects on climate — Scylla and Charybdis — Tides — Wind- 
waves — Crossing of waves — Depth of the ocean— Colour — Milky Seas 
— Divisions of the ocean — Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Ant- 
arctic Oceans — The Atlantic — Origin of the name — Its extent — Sub- 
marine cable — Divisions of the Atlantic — Mediterranean Sea — the 
central ocean of the ancients — Gulf of Mexico — Caribbean Sea — 
Pacific Ocean — Its discovery by Balboa — Magellan — His discoveries 
— Derivation of the name "Pacific" — Boundaries of the Pacific — 
Islands — Voyages of Captain Cook — Beauty of scenery in the South 
Sea Islands — Indian Ocean — Boundaries — Earliest voyages on the 
ocean I — 19 

CHAPTER II. 

THE FROZEN OCEAN. 

Instances of extreme cold in the Arctic regions — M'Clure and Parry 

— Dr. Kane — Esquimaux — Ice dwellings — Attempts to discover a 
shorter passage to India across the Northern seas —Fate of Sir Hugh 



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CONTENTS. 



Willoughby — Arctic voyagers — Sir John Franklin — His sad end- 
Relics of the expedition discovered — Sir Robert M'Clure and the 
North-West Passage — Release from his perilous position — Meaning of 
the term "Arctic" — Reason of the cold in the Polar regions — Dangers 
from floating ice — Fearful incident in the frozen seas — Perils encoun- 
tered by Arctic voyagers ,.♦,,♦. 20—30 

CHAPTER III. 

ICEBERGS. 

Icebergs among the wonders of the ocean world—Grand and im- 
posing — Mimicking every style of architecture — Differ in colour — 
Strange and sudden formations — Many of great height — Origin — 
Greenland — Glaciers — Their immense length — Birth-places of icebergs 
— Moved by powerful currents — Dangers from icebergs on their float- 
ing voyages — Terror excited by them among the early navigators — 
Awful sublimity of the floating ice mountains — Hair-breadth escape of 
Captain Duncan — Supposed loss of the " President," and other vessels, 
from collisions with icebergs — Danger of mooring vessels to icebergs 
— Incident to two sailors — A " picnic " on an iceberg — Rash conduct 
of some French officers — Formation and destruction of ice, a bountiful 
provision of Nature — Danger from ice-fields and floes— Wonderful 
escape of Captain Scoresby — Miles of drifting ice — The "Resolute" 
exploring-ship — Extraordinary escape of Captain Knight and his crew 
— Packed ice • 1 # 31 — 43 

CHAPTER IV. 

SEALS. 

Arctic summer— Presents many interesting features — Description of 
an Arctic sunrise — Melting of the ice — Excessive heat for a short time 
— Effect of the dry air upon the skin — Preparations for the seal fishery 
by the Esquimaux— Industry of the natives — Value of seals' flesh and 
skins — Use of the blubber — Expertness in capturing seals — Skin- 
covered boats — Dexterity in their management — A herd of seals — 
Curious tricks for entrapping them — The chase of the seal sometimes 
dangerous — Destruction of skin-covered boats by seals — Different 
species of seals — The sea-calf — Encounters with bears — Subject to 
violent fits of anger— Irritation of the muscular parts after death— 



I 



CONTENTS. 



Bearded or great seals — Their enormous size — Seals' "weddings" — 
Harp seal— Derivation of the word "seal" — General description of 
seals— Wonderful adaptation to their wants — Their fondness for music 
— The famous " talking" seal — Some species easily tamed — Anecdotes 
of Cuvier — Seals of the Southern seas distinct from the Northern — 
Sea-elephant — Its enormous size — Anecdote of a tame young one — 
Sea-leopard — Monk seal — Otaries, a species of seal — Sea-lion — Sea- 
bear • t t • 44—56 



, -' CHAPTER V. 

THE MONARCHS OF THE OCEAN. 

Peculiarities in whales — Distinct from fishes and land animals, 
though partaking the characters of both — Description of the whale — 
Wonderful strength in the tail— "Lob-tailing" — Enormous size of the 
head — Food of whales — Smallness of the throat — Whalebone — Tongue 
of the whale — The skin — Blubber — A provision against cold — Quantity 
and value of the oil of a Greenland whale — Ears, eyes, and fins of 
the whale — Flesh eaten raw by the Esquimaux — Esquimaux method 
of attacking the whale — Various uses to which the whale is applied 
— Southern or Cape whale — Northern rorqual — Its immense speed 
and activity — Smaller rorqual — Rorqual of the Southern seas — 
Cachalot or Sperm whale — Spermaceti and ambergris — Description of 
the sperm whale — Capacious throat — Food — Schools and schoolmasters 
— surprising feats of the whale — The white whale — Its beautiful colour 
— Captured by nets in Greenland — The deductor whales — The most 
sociable of their kind — Herd in flocks — capture of ninety-eight near 
the island of Lewis — Wanton butchery of whales— Other enemies than 
man to the whale — The saw-fish — Combat between a whale, saw-fishes, 
and fox- sharks — The whale and the grampus — Sword-fish — tremendous 
power in its bony snout — Attachment of whales to their young. 57—69 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE WHALE FISHERIES. 

Falling off in the whale fisheries — Peterhead and Hull the principal 
ports of the fishery — Old customs and usages at Hull — Early history 
of the whale fishery-— The Biscayans — Hakluyt — Description of ships 



xii . CONTENTS. 



employed in the whale fishery — Amusing ceremonies formerly observed 
among the whale fishers — Hard work in the Polar seas— Mode of 
fishing — The harpoon — Struggles of the whale — Disappointment of a 
Dutch whaler — Dead whales — Cutting up the whales — Settlements for 
the whale fishery — Whale fishery in the Southern seas — NewZealanders 
expert in capturing the whale — Productions of the whale fishery at the 
International Exhibition of 1863. . • • . # 70 — 78 

; ; CHAPTER VII. 

PERILS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 

Dangers attending the whale fishery — Incident to the "Essex" in the 
Pacific Ocean — Ship destroyed by collision with a whale— A whale's 
victory — Story of a Dutch harpooner — Anecdote of Scoresby — De- 
struction of a whaling-boat — New Zealand Tom — Incident in the 
Pacific to the whaling-vessel " Independence" — Paying out the rope — 
Serious consequences of inattention — Incident to the whaling-vessel 
" Aimwell" — Dangers of whaling vessels in the Arctic seas from ice — 
Loss of the "Princess Charlotte" — Wonderful instance of preservation 
of the whale-ship "Trafalgar" — Calamities of a whaling squadron — 
Escape of Captain Scoresby — Operation of flensing . • 79 — 88 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PIRATE OF THE OCEAN. 

Fossil sharks — Enormous tooth — Means of acquiring a knowledge 
of the size of an antediluvian shark — The white shark — Its extreme 
voracity — Great tenacity of life — Habit of bounding out of the sea — 
Slaves given to sharks — Punishing a shark — Mode of taking sharks in 
the South Sea Islands — Captain Basil Hall's account of the capture of 
a shark — Flesh eaten by the natives of Guinea — Worship of the shark 
by some African tribes — Strange superstitions respecting the shark of 
the South Sea islanders — Rapacity of the shark — Hooks for taking 
sharks in the South Seas — The large blue shark — Fearful encounter 
with sharks by the South Sea islanders — Fearful incident to the crew 
of the "Magpie" — Hammer-headed shark — Smooth shark — Dog-fish 
— Spinous shark — Angel-fish — Greenland shark — Barking shark — 
Taken for the sea-serpent — Pilot-fish — Companion to the shark — Fei 
sharks — Sharks the scavengers of the ocean . , • 89 — 105 



CONTENTS. xiii 



CHAPTER IX. 

SEA-HORSES, NARWAHLS, AND POLAR BEARS. 

The morse, walrus, or sea-horse — Description — Immense slaughter 
of them — For what purposes — Ferocity when attacked — Affection of 
the mother for its young — Battles between the walrus and the Polar 
bear — Sword-fish attacks the walrus — Sea-unicorn described — Herd 
in flocks — Playfulness — Greenland bear — Its mode of attacking prey — 
Appearance described — Fondness for its offspring — Anecdote of 
Scoresby— Sagacity of a mother bear — Nelson's adventure with a Polar 
bear — A bear in the tower ...... 106 — 118 

CHAPTER X. 

MINUTE ANIMAL LIFE IN THE OCEAN. 

Vastness of organic life in the ocean — Food to the larger marine 
animals — Abundance in the Northern seas — Sea-nettles— Colour of the 
ocean influenced by them — Application of the microscope — Scoresby's 
calculation of the number of animalcule — Animals in a drop of water 
* — Ideas thus afforded of the immensity of creation — Sea- weeds, animated 
worlds — Aquatic forests of the Southern Hemisphere — Minute creation 
governed by the same laws as larger — Jelly-fish — Medusas — Abound in 
the South Atlantic — Curious shapes — Stevens's description of the jelly- 
fish — Annelides, or sea-worms — Sea-mouse — Its beautiful colours — 
Curious arms of marine worms — Nereids — Their changing light — White 
rag worm — Its pearly lustre — Sea-leech — Leaping worms — "Jumping 
Johnnies " — Butterflies of the deep — Existence of animal life at great 
depths — Temperature determines the abundance — Sea-soundings — 
Throwing the lead — American sounding apparatus of Lieutenant Brook 
— Description of the apparatus . 119 — 131 

CHAPTER XL 

THE ROCK-BUILDERS OF THE OCEAN. 

Remarkable beauty of coral — Form and colour in the ocean — For- 
merly supposed to be marine plants — Discovered to be the work of 
minute animals — Placed by Linnseus at the head of the zoophytes- 
Coral workers described — The polyp an extraordinary creature — Modfj 



CONTENTS. 



in which the coral habitations are made — Coral examined under the 
microscope — Islands and continents constructed by the polyps — Im- 
mense extent of coral reefs — Surface of the globe changed by the opera- 
tions of the coral workers ...... 132 — 137 

CHAPTER XII. 

PERILS OF THE CORAL REEFS. 

Coral reefs dangerous to navigation — Shipwreck of the "Cabalve" on 
a coral reef . o 138 — 142 

CHAPTER XIII. 

INSTINCT OF THE ROCK-BUILDERS—CORAL FISHERIES. 

Wonderful instinct of the coral workers in building — Highest part of 
the coral walls on the windward side — Resistance to powerful waves — 
Remarkable arrangements of some species — Common red coral — Where 
obtained — Coral fisheries in the Mediterranean — Coral highly prized 
in India — Black coral — Its scarcity — Fabrication of false coral — Coral 
formerly supposed to possess singular properties — Ovid's account of the 
origin of red coral — Coral beads worn as charms . . 143 — 146 

CHAPTER XIV. 

PEARLS. 

p earls rare and beautiful objects of creation — Perilous employment 
of the pearl-divers — Condemned criminals formerly employed — Ceylon 
renowned for large pearls — Characteristics of the pearl-divers — Dread 
of sharks— Shark- charmers — Confidence of the divers in their powers — 
Pearl fishing in the Gulf of Manaar — Off the Bahrem Islands — Method 
pursued by the Cingalese divers — Treatment of the pearl-oysters— 
Pearl fishery in ancient times — Extent of the pearl fishery in Ceylon — 
System pursued at the Pearl Islands — Oriental pearls — Their beautiful 
colours and richness — Preparation of them foi the market — Operation 
of drilling a delicate one — How pearls are formed in the oyster — 
Amusing account given by Pliny — Story of the king of the pearl-oysters 
— Suppositions respecting pearls — Curious methods of the Chinese to 
procure pearls — The pearl-oyster not the only mollusc which produces 
pearls — Transparent oyster-shells used in China and elsewhere as a 
substitute for glass — Pearls found on the British coasts — Motive of 



CONTENTS. *v 



Julius Caesar for invading Britain — The ancients extravagantly fond of 
pearls — Cleopatra swallowing a pearl dissolved — Powdered pearls used 
as medicine — Pearls esteemed according to size — Names applied to 
each kind — Largest pearl on record — Runjeet Sing and his string of 
pearls 147 — 154 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE VEGETATION OF THE OCEAN. 

A sea covered with weeds — An object of terror during the voyages 
of Columbus — The Gulf- weed — A refuge for innumerable marine ani- 
mals — Enormous expanse of the Atlantic Ocean covered with vegeta- 
tion — Tropical grapes — Difference in the character of sea- weeds and 
land-plants — Sea-weeds brought from a great depth — Submarine forests 
— Meadows of lovely hues — Contrast between gigantic and minute 
sea-weeds — The nereocystus — Tree sea-weed — Sea-weeds in the Arctic 
seas — Floating by means of air-vessels — Great length of some species 
— Sea-weed cables — Enormous thickness— Sea-weeds of smaller growth 
— Water-flannel — Bladder-weed — Sea-silk — Whip-lash — Net- weed — 
Feathery callithamnion — Fern-leaf — Fan-weed — Peacock's-tail — Its 
glorious tints — Sea-thongs —Varieties of form and substance in sea- 
weeds — Marine plants vie with land-flowers — Colours exceedingly 
beautiful — Richness of ocean vegetation — influence of sea-weeds on 
the currents — Sea-weeds as food — The Chinese great consumers — 
Ceylon moss — Carrageen moss — Tangles — Dulse — Cattle fond of it— 
Laver — Importance of sea- weeds as manure — The Channel Islands— 
Numerous applications of sea-weeds — Kelp — Discovery of glass by 
accidentally burning sea- weeds — Iodine from the ashes of sea- weeds — 
Sea-weeds used for packing — Ulva marina — Gum obtained from sea- 
weeds by the Chinese ..,..•. 155 — 163 

CHAPTER XVI. 

SPONGES. 

Ancient use of the sponge, for helmets, &c. — One of the most valu- 
able spoils taken from the ocean — Long undecided whether sponges 
belong to the animal or vegetable kingdom — Ranked as " zoophytes," 
or animal-plants — Aristotle's definition of the sponge — Discoveries of 
Mr. Ellis — Result of Dr. Grant's experiments on the sponge — Manner 



*ti CONTENTS. 



in which, and where, sponges are obtained — Finest qualities come from 
the Ottoman Archipelago — Sponge fishery at the island of Calymnos — ■ 
Depth at which sponges are found — Mode of proceeding by the sponge- 
diver — The sponge in its natural state — Different from what we are 
accustomed to see — Microscopic examination of the exterior skin of 
the sponge — Framework of the sponge — Growth and increase of the 
sponge , 164 — 168 

CHAPTER XVII. 

SHELLS. 

Wonderful shaping out and moulding of shells — Structure of shells 
adapted to the requirements of their inhabitants — Apparatus of bivalves, 
or two-shelled animals — The hinge — power over the valves — The ad- 
ductor muscle — Conchology — Derivation of the term — Shells formerly 
regarded as toys — Looked upon afterwards as treasures — A science of 
the greatest importance — Especially to geologists — Shells of Southern 
Europe — Tarento rich in shells — Greater portion of the shell animals 
carnivorous — Shells of tropical America — Western coasts of Africa — 
Harp-shell — The cockle — The cowry — A substitute for coin in the 
East — Beautiful and rare shells found on the Australian coasts — Deep- 
sea shells — Eagerly sought after by collectors — Grains of chalk micro- 
scopic shells — Lowest parts of the earth consist of shell remains — Sea- 
banks and coasts covered with broken shells — Abundance of the shell 
Carinthium telescopium in Calcutta — Employed in road-making — 
Shells possess a more or less distinct organic structure — Testacea — 
Univalves — Bivalves — Multivalves — Helix or snail genus — Paletta or 
limpet — Turbo — Clam or beards-paw — Curious shells : the murex or 
purple shell — Highly valued by the ancients for its dye — Volute or 
mitre-shell — Strombus — Use and value of shells — Formation of shells 
— Sea-shells perform an important part in the economy of Nature — 
Sea-shells and sea-insects conservators of the ocean — Use of shells 
multifarious — Mother-of-pearl shells used in the decoration of churches 
and houses — Shell-trumpets or horns — Trumpet-shell — Employment 
of shells for sacred uses in Ceylon — Shell-fish as an article of food — 
Scallops — Worn in former times by pilgrims — Giant clams — Porcelain- 
shells — Poached-eggs and weaver's-shuttle shells — Fusus or spindle- 
shells — Roaring buckie — Wordsworth's lines on the voices of shells— 
Wentletrap-shells — Trough-shells — Haliotes used for adorning fiapier* 



CONTENTS. xvii 



mache ornaments — Ear-shells — Fountain-shells — Razor-shells — Top- 
shells — Pheasant-shells — Rock-limpets ... . . 169 — 180 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

SUBMARINE SCENERY. 

Glory of submarine scenery in the tropics— Wonderful transparency 
of the water — The Bahamas — China seas — Wonders of the submarine 
depths — Deepest colours of fishes and marine vegetation in the tropical 
seas — The Indian and Caribbean Seas remarkable — Splendid colours 
of tropical fishes — The Balistes or cross-bow fishes — Description — 
Imperial chcetodon — Its singular splendour — Beauty of fishes no cri- 
terion for excellence of food — Marine gems — Ruby-coloured etelis — 
Indian Ocean rich in submarine scenery — Schleiden's vivid description 
— Beautiful fish — Illuminated submarine gardens — The moon-fish— 
Loveliness in the transparent waters of the warm seas — Abundance 
and beauty of the marine fauna — Wonders of coral scenery in the 
ocean depths of the tropxcs — The asterias or star-fishes — Caput 
medusae, or basket-fish — Description of madrepores, millipores, and 
nullipores — Anemones the loveliest ornaments of sea-gardens — Their 
brilliant colours — Representing the land-flowers of the same name — 
Submarine rock-basins at Barbadoes — Beauty of the anemones con- 
fined to their ocean habitats — The mesembryanthemum a gem of the 
aquarium — The crassicornis, actinia, or animal-flowers — Sea-anemones 
a hungry class — Power of reproducing lost limbs — Singular trans- 
parency of the waters of the Red Sea — Forests of pale pink and red 
coral distinctly seen in its depths — Sea-slug and sea-cucumber — Their 
splendid colours— Gorgonias — Serpula — Ringed animals like worms — 
Their splendid colours — Sertularia — Very beautiful — Waters of the 
North Sea remarkable for transparency — Beautiful submarine scenery 
of the Norway Seas 181 — 193 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE FLOATING NAVIGATORS OF THE OCEAN. 

The nautilus, the ocean Mab and fairy of the sea — Very little known, 
until a recent period, about the nautilus — The fish described by Pro- 
fessor Owen — Real method of its propulsion — The paper-nautilus — its 
supposed sails— The glaucus a real rower on the ocean — The nautilus 

b 



xviii CONTENTS. 



a wonderful builder — Intelligence displayed by the nautilus — Pearly- 
nautilus — The gem of the deep — Shells manufactured into various 
shapes by the Chinese — Snail-slime fishes — Inhabitants of the Arctic 
seas — Shells of the nautilus abound in the coral seas — Argonaut — 
Differs from the true nautilus — Sea-bladder, or Portuguese man-of-war 
— Description — Wondrous beauty of its colours — Have the appearance 
of prismatic shells — Colours fade when the zoophytes are taken from 
the ocean — Their stinging properties — Incident to a sailor on in- 
cautiously handling one* of them — Origin of the term " sea-nettle " — 
Fossil nautili — Specimens in the British Museum — Ammonites — The 
primitive navigator of the ancient seas — The most beautiful of all our 
fossils — Derivation of the name — Petrified snakes — Strength and 
beauty of the ammonite — Different in the construction of the shell to the 
nautilus — The nautilus still ride9 on the ocean waves — The ammonite 
extinct — The floating pteropoda — Ianthina, or ocean snails — The 
cephalopoda — Cuttle-fish— Description — One of the pests of the fisher- 
man — Their ink-bags — Useful application of the cuttle-fish — Power of 
reproducing limbs — Prodigious size of some species — Fearful apparatus 
of arms — Highly prized as food by the ancients — Still relished in some 
countries — a queen of one of the Pacific Islands regaling on a cuttle- 
fish — Mode of fishing with the cuttle-fish described by Columbus — 
Contrivances of the South Sea islanders for taking the cuttle-fish — 
The cuttle-fish belongs to a period before the Flood 194—207 

CHAPTER XX. 
PHENOMENA OF THE OCEAN—ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES. 

The mirage an optical deception in the atmosphere — Singular ap- 
pearance in the Polar seas — Various fantastic forms assumed — Aurora 
borealis — Varied appearances — Origin of the phenomenon — Super- 
stitions of the Indians respecting the aurora — Other meteors in the 
Northern Ocean arising from refraction — Fall of icy particles — Their 
remarkable beauty — Parhelia, or mock suns — Singular phenomenon 
observed in the Arctic seas — Splendour of an Arctic sunset — Ice-blink 
— Tide-rip — Luminosity of the ocean — Whence originated — Its singular 
beauty — Phosphorescent particles — Water-spouts — Described — Com- 
mon in the Mediterranean — Their danger — Water-spouts in the Pacific 
—Their fearful grandeur— Natives of the South Sea Islands terrified 
at their appearance— Tornadoes— Typhoons— Trade-winds — Alarm of 



CONTENTS. xix 



the crew of Columbus — Advantage of the trade-winds — Monsoons — 
Exercise an important and beneficial office in nature — Origin difficult 
to explain — Vivid lightning accompanying monsoons — Hurricanes or 
cyclones — More destructive than earthquakes — Hurricane at Barbadoes 
in 1780— Noise of the wind in hurricanes — The "bore" — Tremendous 
force and rapidity — Volcanic action at the bottom of seas — Remark- 
able submarine volcanic tract — Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions at 
different periods — Islands rising from the sea — Santorin — Earth- 
quakes—Red fogs or shower-dust 208 — 230 

CHAPTER XXL 

SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE OCEAN. 

Seamen naturally superstitious — Strange notions in ancient times — 
Trifling incidents regarded as prodigies — Omens and good luck — 
Belief in saintly interpositions in the middle ages — Superstitions of 
sailors in Sardinia — Conspicuous sea-saints — St. Nicholas — Phantom 
ship — Originated by the Dutch — Terror excited by water-spouts — 
Superstitious practices for averting them — Lightning considered omi- 
nous — St. Elmo — Power of raising tempests at sea by witchcraft — In- 
cident to James VI. of Scotland — The Evil One supposed to influence 
the winds and waves — Procuring favourable breezes by turning stones 
— Wird-pillars — Particular seasons held in superstitious regard by 
seamen — Custom of the sailors at Folkestone — Belief of the Finn 
seamen — Double sight — Blessing the waters of the Neva by the 
Russians — Espousal of the sea formerly by the Doge of Venice — The 
Greek patriarch at Constantinople throwing a cross into the sea — 
Superstitious customs of the fishermen on the coasts of the Baltic — 
Customs at Hartlepool — Prejudices regarding certain days of the week 
— Apparitions — Amusing incident — Superstitious influence of bells — 
Calming the sea at Malta — - Bells of Bottreaux in Cornwall — Rats 
leaving a ship — Omens for good or evil — Birds and marine animals — 
"The Ancient Mariner" — Barnacles — Carrying dead bodies in ships — 
Anecdote of Lord Nelson — Turning the boats for good luck. 231-^247 

CHAPTER XXII. 

MONSTERS OF THE DEEP— SEA-DRAGONS. 

Gigantic reptiles inhabiting the ocean before the Deluge— Interesting 

b—2 



x* CONTENTS. 



fossil remains in the British Museum — Derivation of "fossil" — These 
reptiles fearful scourges in the ocean — First discovery of the icthyo- 
saurus — Limestone rocks at Lyme Regis — Mary Anning — Dragons in 
story-books — Description of the icthyosaurus — Head like a crocodile 
— Numerous immense teeth — Enormous eyes — Body like that of a fish 
— Buckland's remarks on the remains of food found in the fossil — The 
plesiosaurus — Somewhat allied to the icthyosaurus — The fossil also dis- 
covered at Lyme Regis — Peculiarities of this huge monster — Head of a 
lizard — Teeth of a crocodile — Neck of enormous length — Body rounded 
like that of a marine turtle — Conybeare's description of its habits — The 
teleosaurus — The great pirate of the ocean— Armed to the teeth — Its 
enormous jaws — Able to swallow animals as large as an ox — The 
moesasaurus — Discovered at Maestricht — Thought to be a crocodile — 
Character of the fossil skeleton exposed by Cuvier . • 248 — 252 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

MARINE PRODIGIES. 

Sea-divinities of the ancients — Prodigies described by Rondelet in 
the sixteenth century — " Monk" and "bishop" fishes — How manufac- 
tured — To excite the superstitious veneration of the people — Aldro- 
vandus — His curious notions respecting fishes — The kraken, awonderful 
sea-monster — The back a mile and a half in circumference — Able to 
pull men-of-war to the bottom of the ocean — Floating islands — Identity 
of the cuttle-fish with the kraken — Great sea-monster seen by Captain 
Neill — Appeared like a vessel lying on her beam-ends— Snout fifty feet 
long — Pliny's vast animal — The great sea-serpent — Described by Pon- 
toppidan as six hundred feet in length — Appearing like hogsheads 
floating in aline — Sea-serpents seen on the Norwegian coasts at various 
times — Marvellous stories told by the Americans — Sea-serpent seen by 
the crew of the " Daedalus " — Drawings made of this monster — Account 
forwarded to the Admiralty — Doubts expressed by Professor Owen on 
the existence of a great sea-serpent — Many marine prodigies may be 
yet unknown to us — Sea-monster seen in 1857 by the crew of the 
"Castilian" — Account given by Captain Harrington— Upwards of two 
hundred feet long — The supposed sea-serpents probably a large species 
of seals — Fishes of the Ribbon family may give rise to what are called 
sea-serpents — The "serpent in the sea" a very general superstition in 
ancient times — The Scandinavian prose " Edda"— " How Odin went to 



CONTENTS. xxi 



fish for the Midgard sea-serpent"— Elastic imaginations of the old 
Northern writers — Olaus Magnus — His account of sea-prodigies — Fish 
of horrible forms — Eyes appear like burning lamps — Whirlpool de- 
scribed as a stupendous fish — Mermaids and mermen — Belief prevalent 
through remotest ages — Creature half man and half fish found repre- 
sented among the excavations at Khorsabad — Figures on coins — Peru- 
vians had semi-fish gods — The Tritons and Sirens— Stories told of 
mermaids and mermen — Icelandic description of a mermaid — Monster 
shows itself before heavy storms — Merman found on the coast of 
Denmark — Appearance like that of an old man— Stuffed mermaids — 
Barnum's famous exhibition — Stories about mermaids and mermen 
probably originate in the appearance of seals, walruses, &c. — The ma- 
natee — The dugong — The stellerus — Strange creatures in the ocean 
near Ceylon — Exhibition of prodigies in the reign of Elizabeth — A 
mermaid shown in London in 1822 — A hoax — Lines on the subject 

253—267 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

MODES OF FISHING IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 

Use of nets dates from the earliest times — Frequent mention of them 
in the Holy Scriptures — Represented in the bas-reliefs of Assyria, 
Greece, and Rome — The Egyptians fond of fishing — Greeks and 
Romans used nets — Trawling at sea a favourite pursuit — Papyrus nets 
— Nets used by the Saxons — St. Wilfred taught the use of nets — Great 
improvements of late in the manufacture of nets — Variety of nets used 
by fishermen — The seine — The trawl — The drift— Description of them 
— Fishery " exhibitions " at Arcachon and Boulogne — Fishing by the 
electric light — Animals employed for getting fish — Birds trained for 
the purpose by the Chinese — Their wonderful sagacity — Fishing with 
geese by the Earls of Menteith — Various modes of the Chinese 
for getting fish — Shooting fishes with bows and arrows — South Sea 
islanders expert fishermen — Singular mode of taking the needle-fish — 
Spears frequently used — Shell and bone hooks — Taking large fish by 
means of a "mast" — Description — Many fish taken by torchlight — 
Indian method of taking the candle-fish — Its valuable products — 
White porpoise fishing in the St. Lawrence — Flesh of the porpoise much 
esteemed formerly in our own country — Fishing for the sea-pike in the 
Ionian Islands — The tunny fishery — Mode of taking this fish in the 



xxii CONTENTS. 



Mediterranean — Sturgeon fishery in Russia — " Caviare " made from the 
roe of the sturgeon— Conger- eel fishery in Cornwall— Great sea-conger 
described — Sand-eel fishery in the Channel Islands — Mackerel fishery 
— Nets employed for this purpose — Mackerel described — Yarmouth — 
Herring fishery — Derivation of the name — Mode of fishing — Descrip- 
tion of boats employed at Yarmouth — Salting of the herrings — Bloaters 
— Pilchard fishery at St. Ive's Bay, Cornwall — Nets employed for this 
purpose — Sentinels placed on hills to announce the arrival of the shoals 
— Pilchard " curing " — Sprats and whitebait, how taken — The sardine 
— Abounds in the Mediterranean — Cod fishery on the banks of New- 
foundland — Value attached to every part of this fish — Cod abundant 
on the coasts of Iceland — Iceland fisheries described — Modern cod 
smacks — Method of fishing in England — The dog-fish, a pest to fisher- 
men — Haddocks taken by trawl-nets and lines — Coal-fish, a relative of 
the cod — Method of capturing it — Other members of the cod family — 
The ling — The hake — Stock-fish — Turbots — The Romans particularly 
fond of them — Captured by beam-trawling — Annual consumption of 
soles in London — Turtles — Mode of taking them — Value of the shells 
— Singular practice of taking turtles by " fisher-fishes " among the 
Chinese — Crabs — Mode of taking them — Hermit crab — King crab — 
Pill-maker — Prawns — Shrimps — Mussels — Cultivation of them by the 
French — Mussel farms near Rochelle — Story of Captain Walton — 
Mussels described — Oyster-farming — Extensively carried on in France 
and England — Oysters described — Scallops — Clams — Enemies of the 
oyster — Lobsters — Caught in traps, nets, and pots — The lobster a 
standing romance of the sea — Enormous supply of lobsters and crabs 
to the London markets — Description of lobsters and crabs — Catching 
fish by violent noises — Bombardment of fishes with stones in Denmark 
— A similar practice in Wales 268 — 309 

CHAPTER XXV. 

ODDS AND ENDS ABOUT FISHES. 

Strange and varied characters of fishes— Universality of fish diet— 
The money of commerce in some countries — Mythological honours 
rendered to fishes in ancient times — Fish perpetuated on coins, &c. — 
Form of fishes — The most varied creatures in the world — All adapted 
to the modes of obtaining food— The tail the great organ of motion— 
The fins serve to balance the body— Differences of fins— Paley on the 



CONTENTS. xxiii 



action of the fins — Air or swimming-bladder — Isinglass — Bodies of 
fishes — Circulation of blood peculiar — Respiration — Smell— Baits made 
attractive by scents — Mode of preparing bait in America — Nostrils of 
fishes — Taste — Touch — Scales — Eyes — Fishes require great power of 
vision in the deep — Teeth — Present more varieties in fishes than in 
other animals — Hearing — Singular stories of fishes attracted by musical 
sounds — Brain — Attachment of some fishes to their young — Eggs — 
Northern seas most prolific in fishes — Uses of fish — For agricultural 
purposes — Ornaments made from fish-scales — Mock pearls — Various 
uses of the entrails of fishes by the natives of north-west America — Oil 
of the dog-fish — Skin used to refine liquors, &c. — Curative properties 
of certain fish — Strange belief of our ancestors — Electrical fish — The 
torpedo — Violent shocks — Felt by fishermen when drawing their nets — 
Torpenididse divided into several genera — Two species occasionally 
found on our coasts — The marmorata — The nobiliana — These and 
other species plentiful in the Mediterranean — Electric apparatus de- 
scribed by Cuvier — Power of stinging in some fishes — The sting-ray — 
Inflicts severe wounds — Formidable weapon of offence— Enormous 
fins — Bright eyes — The great and little weever — Troublesome to en- 
counter — Description — Stinging powers of the physalis — The acanthuri 
— Dangerous stings — Remarkable for beauty of form and varied colours 
— Fishes, with few exceptions, carnivorous — The sea a vast slaughter- 
house — Sucking-fishes — The sea-owl snail — Lumpsucker — Its beautiful 
colours — The far-famed remora — Use of the sucker — The remora a 
subject of imaginative terror to the ancients — Power attributed to it of 
stopping a vessel — Pliny's remarks — Adhesive powers of the fish extra- 
ordinary — Remora of the Mediterranean described — The sea-lamprey 
— Its powerful sucker— Historical renown of the lamprey — A fa- 
vourite dish of the Romans — Lampreys fed on human flesh — Death of 
Henry I. from a surfeit of lampreys — Another use to which the sucker 
is applied — Present of lamprey pies to sovereigns — The gurnard group 
of fishes — Peculiarities — Derivation of the name — Many of the species 
remarkable for beauty of colours — Rose, red, and grey gurnards most 
common species on our coasts — New Zealand gurnard remarkably 
beautiful — The sea-scorpion — Its formidable tail-sting — Sticklebacks — 
Name derived from their spiny backs — Pugnacious propensities — 
Beauty of their changing cplours — The sea-adder — Its rapacity — Anec- 
dote respecting the fighting habits of the sticklebacks — Nest-builders 
— Sea-gudgeons also nest-builders — The flying gurnard — Great size of 



xxiv CONTENTS. 



its pectoral fins — Flying leaps out of the water — Inhabits the warm seas 
— Emits phosphoric light — Flying fishes — One species visits our coasts 
— Musical fish — Curious statements respecting them — Give a peculiar 
sound called "drumming" — The famous maigre of the Mediterranean 
—Singular sounds heard by the crew of an American vessel in the 
China seas— Incident related by Humboldt — The pogonia, sometimes 
called the " drum-fish " — Incident related by Sir Emerson Tennant at 
Ceylon — Sounds from under water heard at other places — Queer fish — 
The devil-fish — Lieutenant Lamont's account of one taken at Jamaica 
— Its enormous size and strength — Devil-fish taken in Delaware Bay — 
Monstrous skates — Surprising stories related of them — The fishing- 
frog, or angler — A most repulsive animal — Description — Its boldness 
and voracity — Said to pass some time on shore — Curious story of 
Rondelet — Derivation of the name "angler" — Mode of attracting its 
prey — Singular provision of Nature for attaining this object — Some- 
thing more about sword and saw-fishes — Incident related by Captain 
Wilson — Capture of an immense saw-fish — Its prodigious strength — 
An East Indiaman attacked by a sword-fish — Fragment of the vessel 
with the sword embedded in the wood, preserved in the British 
Museum — The "Dreadnought" attacked by a sword-fish in 1868 — 
Curious action at law in consequence of damages- — Evidence of Pro- 
fessor Owen 310 — 336 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

BEAUTIFUL FISHES. 

Dolphin — Belongs to an extensive family — The Atlantic species- 
Splendid colouring and varying tints — Falconer's description — Other 
fish change colour — Cat-fish — Sucking-fish — Sea-peacock — Blue-fish — 
The true dolphin — Described — Regarded as a sacred fish by the 
ancients — The Dauphin of France named from this fish — Pursue the 
flying-fish — Incident related by Captain Basil Hall — The dolphin preyed 
upon in turn by the fox-shark and the grampus — Some species of sea- 
breams remarkable for their beauty — The Spanish — The gilt-heads — 
The mackerel family— The common mackerel a beautiful fish — The 
John Dory — Derivation of the name — Called St. Peter's fish — Legend 
attached to it — The boar-fish — The opah or king-fish— Splendour -of 
its colours — Marine members of the Perch family — The red mullet — ■ 
Highly esteemed by the Romans — Purchased at enormous prices — 



CONTENTS. xxv 



Kept in aquariums — The basse or sea-perch — The armed emplessus — 
The two-banded diploprion — The Mediterranean apogon — The lettered 
seranus — Derivation of the name — The spined seranus — The beautiful 
plectropoma — Its singular beauty — The one-spotted mesoprion — The 
golden-tailed mesoprion — Scaly-finned family of fishes — Numerous 
pecies — Their remarkable richness of colouring — The chcetodon — The 
archer — So named from its peculiar habit — A favourite with the Chinese 

■Wonderful dexterity of the fish in procuring its prey — The Toxotus 
jaculata, another member of the archery family — Riband-shaped fish 
family — Includes the most singular and extraordinary fishes in creation 

Description — The riband-fish— Lath or deal-fish — Wonderful beauty 
of these fishes — The onion-fish — Banner-fish — Scabbard-fish — The 
Goby family — The gemmous dragonet — So named from brilliance of 
its colours — Described — The ocellated blenny, or butterfly-fish — 
Wrasses, or old wives of the sea — Some very attractive species — The 
rainbow — Parrot-fish The scarus — Its ruminating powers — The gold- 
sinny — The wrasse — Rock-fish — The ballan wrasse — Pike-mouthed 
fishes — Trumpet-fish, or sea-snipe — The hippocampus, or sea-horse — 
Origin of its name — The chimsera, or rabbit-fish — Called in Norway 
the gold and silver fish — Also the sea-rat and king-fish — Eyes bril- 
liantly lustrous — Repulsive form — Somewhat allied to sea-monsters — 
Beauty of colours intended for the admiration of man . 337 — 350 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

TREASURES RECOVERED FROM THE OCEAN. 

Immense amount of treasures buried in the ocean — Shakspere's 
allusion to submarine spoils — Sir Charles Lyell on ocean treasures — 
Attempts made to recover submerged vessels — William Phipps, the 
founder of the Normanby family — His adventures — Recovery of lost 
treasures — The origin of the diving-bell traditionally ascribed to him — 
His wonderful perseverance and courage — Recovery of sunken wealth 
— Appointed Sheriff of New England in America — Governor of Mas- 
sachusetts — His death — Companies formed in England for the recovery 
©f ocean treasures — Use of diving-bell — Operations on the submerged 
wreck of the " Royal George " — Much ingenuity employed — Incident 
to the " Royal George" — Death of Admiral Kempenfeldt — Nine hundred 
of the crew lost — The " Royal George " the subject of many submarine 
operations — Divers succeed in bringing up guns — Condition of the 



xxvi CONTENTS. 



"Royal George" when examined — Pasley's method of destroying the 
remains of the vessel in 1839 — Recovery of many valuables — Sufficient 
to pay the expenses of the operation — Improvements made on the 
diving-bell by H alley, Spalding, Farey, S meat on, and others — De- 
scription of the diving-bell — Singular case of John Day, who perished 
in 1774 from an almost incredulous stupidity — Many operations now 
carried on for the recovery of lost ocean treasures — The British ship 
"Lutine" — Foundered off the Dutch coast — Great loss of life — One 
survivor only — Reward offered for the recovery of the lost treasures — 
American Submarine Company — The search for sunken riches — Re- 
covery of an immense sum of money — Treasure-ships sunk in the Bay 
of Vigo during the war of the Spanish Succession — Recovery of some 
of the treasures by means of the diving-bell . . . 351 — 362 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SEA-BIRDS. 

Number and variety of marine birds — Roosting-places — Interesting 
spectacle at Saldanha Bay — The Gull family — General description — 
Beauty and lightness of the wings — Some gulls expert in breaking the 
shells of mollusca — Tyranny of the burgomaster gull — Tricks played 
by seamen on gulls — The skuas — Power of their bills — Anecdote of a 
sailor and a skua — Its pugnacity — Encounter between the skua and 
the eagle — The petrels — -Among the most interesting of marine birds 
— The stormy petrel — Terns, or sea-swallows — The roseate tern — 
Breeding-places on the Faroe Islands — The albatross — A very powerful 
bird — A great fish-eater — Instances of their gluttony — The divers — 
Expert in fishing — Description of them — The guillemots — Immense 
numbers at the breeding stations — The great auk — The puffin, or sea- 
parrot — The penguins — Darwin's description of the "jackass " pen- 
guin — The cormorant — One of the greatest destroyers of fish — Trained 
to fish by some nations — Ferocity of the cormorant when angry — The 
pelican — Peculiar pouch for storing fish — Singular method in fishing — 
The gannet — Its fishing exploits — Assemble at breeding-times in 
myriads on the Bass Rock — The hooper, or wild swan — Fishing- 
birds of the eagle kind — The great sea-eagles — War waged against 
them in the Hebrides — The osprey — Encounter with the white-headed 
eagle — Fishing habits of the osprey — Wonderful adaptations by Nature 
for this purpose — The phaeton, or trop:'c birds — The frigate-bird — Its 
tyrannical treatment of the booby 363 — 388 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SENTINELS OF THE SEAS. 

The lighthouse an object of the greatest interest — Absence of sea- 
lights a calamity — Earliest allusion to lighthouses — Beacons — Homer's 
description of the flash of a beacon-light — Navigation made its first 
efforts in the Mediterranean Sea — Voyages of the Egyptians and Phoe- 
nicians — Lighthouses or sacred towers of antiquity — Used as naval 
schools — The buildings described- — The fire-tower of the early ages — 
Watch-towers — Mode of lighting them — Sounding of conch-shells — 
The Pharos, the oldest lighthouse on record — Island of Pharos — De- 
scription of the lighthouse — The colossal statue of Apollo, at Rhodes, 
a lighthouse — Erected three hundred years before Christ — Description 
— The Lamp of Diogenes — Beacons or watch-fires in our own country 
— Lighthouse erected by the Romans at Boulogne — Roman lighthouse 
at Dover — Description — Mandate of Henry III. for the maintenance 
of coast-lights — Permanent regulations for lighthouses in the reign of 
Elizabeth — The Corduan lighthouse the noblest of its kind — Light- 
houses in the time of Charles I. — The North Foreland lighthouse — 
Charter of the Trinity Board — Control of the " sentinels of the seas " — 
Smeaton and the Eddystone lighthouse — Winstanleys efforts — De- 
struction of his erection — Rudyard's lighthouse — Destroyed by fire — 
Erection of the present lighthouse — Description — Sad incident to a 
lighthouse-keeper — Bell-Rock tower in Scotland — Difficulties of its 
erection — Perils of Stephenson and the workmen — Lighthouse struck 
by a tremendous sea in 1812 — Lighthouse on the Skerry vore Rocks — 
Other stone lighthouses — Iron constructions — Height of lighthouses — 
Bells as a warning to mariners — Guns — Horns — Tamed sea-birds em- 
ployed as signals — Gongs — Steam trumpet — Whistles — Illumination of 
lighthouses — Wood and coal — Light of a coal fire kept up by bellows 
at the North Foreland in 1732 — The last coal light extinguished in 
1822 — Tallow candles — Oil — Lamps with cotton wicks — Argand lamps 
— Fresnel's invention of the annular or built lens — Gas — Attended by 
uncertainty — Convenient as harbour lights — The Drummond light — 
The electric v light — Something about the animated "sentinels of the 
seas" — Life in a lighthouse — Previous occupations of lighthouse-keepers 
— Reasons for seeking such an employment — Several keepers have been 



xxviii CONTENTS. 



born in the service — Long service — The keepers, in general, comfort- 
ably lodged — Employ their time in various pursuits — A butler turning 
his cleaning talents to advantage as a lighthouse-keeper — Severe hard- 
ships and perils sometimes — Violence of the waves — The Casket light- 
house much exposed to storms — Privations and ailments of some 
keepers — Black flags hoisted on the Longship lighthouse — A distress 
Isignal — Bishop's Rock lighthouse at Scilly — Dangerous approach to it 
— Struck by a water-spout in i860 — The Double Stanners lighthouse 
swept away in a storm — Grace Darling — Her heroism — Floating lights 
— Birds caught at lighthouses — A young seal caught by a keeper — Lan- 
tern of Calais lighthouse smashed by a swan — Concluding lines. 

389-412 



M* 



THE 



BROAD, BROAD OCEAN. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE WORLD OF WATERS, 

€t Thou glorious mirror, where th' Almighty's form 
Glasses itself in tempests, in all time, 
Calm or convuls'd, in breeze, or gale, or storm, 
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime, 
Dark-heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime, 
Th' image of eternity, the throne 
Of th' Invisible; even from out thy slime 
The monsters of the deep are made; each zone 
Obeys thee: thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, and alone." 

Byron. 




N the beginning," the sacred historian informs us, " God 
created the heavens and the earth : and the earth was 
without form and void, and darkness was upon the 
face of the deep (or abyss), and the Spirit of God moved upon 

THE FACE OF THE WATERS." 

How wondrously solemn and grand, my dear young friends, are 
these inspired and holy words ! What human imagination can 
fully realize their sublimity ? In a few plain but soul-stirring sen- 
tences the great mystery of creative power is unfolded, and the 



GRANDEUR OF THE OCEAN. 



mind gets bewildered in the contemplation of such vastness, beauty, 
and beneficence. We may exclaim with the royal psalmist, " Thou, 
even Thou, art Lord alone ; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven 
of heavens, with all their host ; the earth, and all things that are 
therein; the seas, and all that are therein; and Thou preservest 
them all." 

"On the second day, or generation, uprose progressively the 
fine fluids or waters (as they are poetically and beautifully denomi- 
nated) of the firmament, and filled the blue ethereal void with a 
vital atmosphere. The third day, or generation, the waters more 
properly so called, or the grosser or more compacter fluids of the 
general mass, were gathered together into the vast bed of the 
ocean, and dry land began to make its appearance." 

It is with this ocean, which constitutes nearly three-fourths of the 
entire surface of the whole globe, that I wish, my young friends, in 
the following pages, to make you better acquainted ; and not only 
to amuse, but to insfruct you upon the many wonderful objects it 
contains. I can only do this in a very imperfect degree, but you 
may supply my deficiences later, when you read the open book of 
Nature with thoughtful minds eager for knowledge. 

No subject, surely, could be more delightful than the study of 
the " world of waters " and its strange inhabitants, and there is 
none upon which the mind of man has been more absorbed in 
inquiry and research. 

Besides the magnificent language of Scripture in reference to 
the ocean, poets of all times and countries have expatiated on the 
ever-varying phenomena it presents. The very beautiful lines of 
Campbell ought never to be forgotten: 

" Earth has not a plain 
So boundless or so beautiful as thine ; 
The eagle's vision cannot take it in ; 
The lightning's glance, too weak to sweep its space^ 
Sinks half-way o'er it, like a wearied bird; 
It is the mirror of the stars, where all 
Their hosts within the concave firmament, 
Gay marching to the music of the spheres^ 
Can see themselves at once," 



ESSENTIAL TO EXISTENCE. 



There are other equally lofty and noble thoughts on the same 
subject embodied in verse by other writers. But, besides the 
sublimity and grandeur of the ocean, there are other matters of 
paramount interest to consider. The ocean is essential to the 
existence of man and of all vegetation ; " it is the great moderator 
and equalizer of terrestrial climates," purifying the atmosphere that 
we breathe, and sending off a perpetual supply of vapours, which 
condense into clouds, and are the sources of moisture and fertility 
to the soil. We must also think of the facilities afforded for an 
intercourse with distant nations. Humboldt remarks: "Contact 
with the ocean has unquestionably exercised a beneficial influence 
on the cultivation oi the intellect and formation of the character 
of many nations, on the multiplication of those bonds which should 
unite the whole human race, on the first knowledge of the true 
form of the earth, and on the pursuit of astronomy, and of all the 
mathematical and physical sciences. This beneficial influence, 
enjoyed by the dwellers on the Mediterranean and on the shores 
of South-western Asia, was long limited to them ; but since the 
sixteenth century it has spread far and wide, extending to nations 
living even in the interior of continents. Since Columbus was 
'sent to unbar the gates of ocean' (as the unknown voice said to 
him in a dream, on his sick-bed near the river Belem), man has 
boldly adventured into intellectual as well as geographical regions 
before unknown to him." 

Besides these incalculable benefits, I must not omit to mention 
the innumerable marine productions which contribute, in so many 
ways, to the nourishment, comfort, and pleasure of the human race. 
How truly wonderful and mysterious are the operations of the Omni- 
potent Being in regard to the ocean ! " If the existing waters were 
increased only one-fourth of their present area, they would drown the 
earth, with the exception of some high mountains. If the volume 
of the ocean were augmented only by one-eighth, considerable por- 
tions of the present continents would be submerged, and the seasons 
would be changed all over the globe. Evaporation would be so much 
extended,, that rains would fall continually, destroy the harvests 
fruits, and flowers, and overturn the whole ecwomy of nature" 



WHAT IS WATER t 



There is, perhaps, nothing more beautiful in our whole system 
than the process by which the fields are irrigated from the skies, 
the rivers are fed from the mountains, and the ocean restrained 
within bounds which it never can excead so long as that process 
continues on the present scale. The vapour raised from the sea by 
the sun floats wherever it is lighter than the atmosphere; condensed, 
it falls upon the earth in water. And what is water ? Chemists 
tell us that it is composed of equal quantities of two important 
gases — oxygen and hydrogen — these being, probably, the two most 
abundant and essential substances in nature, as regards ourselves 
and our earth. 

" For mark how oxygen with azote gas 
Plays round the globe in one aerial mass ; 
Or fused with hydrogen in ceaseless flow, 
Form the wide waves which foam and roll below." 

These, when combined, become converted into vapour, many 
gallons of them in this state forming one small drop of fluid water. 
" It is the simplest of combinations, and the compound most re- 
sembling a simple element ; the most universal solvent at all tem- 
peratures; the most widely distributed substance in nature; the 
most powerful agent ; the most perfect representation of perpetual 
motion, penetrating everything, passing everywhere, always present, 
in sight or out of sight, and everywhere producing a marked effect. 
When it is remembered that a very large proportion of the weight 
of every living being, animal or vegetable, consists of water, and 
that for life to continue at all, an incessant supply of fresh fluid is 
required, the necessity of water will be fully understood." 

The Saltness which distinguishes the waters of the ocean is ex- 
plained by the circumstance that chloride of sodium (common salt) 
and other dissolvable salts, which form essential ingredients of the 
earth, are being constantly washed out of the soil and rocks by 
rain and springs, and carried down by the rivers ; and as the evapo- 
ration which feeds the rivers carries none of the dissolved matter 
back to the land, the tendency is to accumulate in the sea. We 
know that beds of rock-salt, of enormous thickness, form part of 



SALTNESS AND Ct/RRENTS OP THE OCEAN. § 

rr — ^— ——____ — — . . 

the crust of the globe ; and we may infer that immense banks ot 
salt exist in the bed of the deep. The uniformity of this saltness 
is preserved by the constant movement of the waters, caused by the 
regular and perpetual action of the winds. Maury illustrates this 
in a very impressive manner. "If," he remarks, "all the salts oi 
the sea were precipitated, and spread equally over the northern 
half of this continent (America), it would cover the ground one 
mile deep ! What force could move such a mass of matter on dry 
land ? Yet, the machinery of the ocean, of which it forms a part, 
is so wisely, marvellously, and wonderfully compensated, that the 
most gentle breeze that plays on its bosom — the tiniest insect that 
secretes solid matter for its sea-shell — is capable of putting it in- 
stantly in motion. Still, when solid and placed in a heap, all the 
mechanical contrivances of mankind, aided by the tremendous 
forces of all the steam and water power of the world, could not 
move so much as an inch in centuries of time this matter, which 
the sunbeam, the zephyr, and the infusorial insect keep in perpetual 
motion and activity." 

Currents, which exercise so great an influence on the circulation 
of the waters, and in* producing remarkable changes in the form of 
coasts, are described as constant, periodical, and variable ; the two 
latter classes being determined chiefly by the winds and tides. 
The first motion of the ocean waves is derived either from the 
attraction of the sun or moon, or from the winds which blow over 
the surface of the waters ; the second arises from the sun, which 
directly through its heat, and indirectly by scorching dry winds, 
produces evaporation, to a great extent, of the parts most exposed 
to its influence ; and by its similar action on the atmosphere, causes 
a transference of this vapour to remote latitudes, where it descends 
as rain, and by destroying the equilibrium of the ocean, gives rise 
to currents. The principal currents of the ocean are four, two 
warm, and two cold ; these originate, the former among the islands 
of the Archipelago and in the Gulf of Mexico, &c, the latter in 
the Arctic and Southern Oceans. 

The most important and best known of ocean currents, the 
Gulf-Stream — " the river in the ocean," one of the most marvellous 



THE GULF-STREAM. 



things in this world of waters — derives its name from the Gulf ol 
Mexico. The general direction of this stream is in the arc of a 
great circle, towards our own shores, by which it is divided ; one 
branch, passing to the west and north, reaches the coast of Norway, 
and can be perceived on the southern borders of Iceland and 
Spitzbergen. The waters are of a deep indigo blue, " and are so 
distinctly marked, that their line of junction with the common sea- 
water may be traced by the eye. Often one-half of a vessel may 
be perceived floating in Gulf-Stream water, while the other half 
is in the common water of the sea. So sharp is the line, and such 
is the want of affinity between those waters, and such, too, the re- 
luctance, so to speak, on the part of those of the Gulf-Stream to 
mingle with the common water of the sea." The existence of the 
Gulf-Stream can also be readily ascertained by means of a thermo- 
meter, the temperature being so elevated. It is this warmth which 
tempers and softens the climate of our own country and of all 
Western Europe. " It is," says Professor Johnston, " the influence 
of the Gulf-Stream upon climate that makes Ireland the Emerald 
Island of the sea, and clothes the shores of England with ever- 
green robes; while in the same latitude, on the other side of the 
Atlantic, the shores of Labrador are fast bound in fetters of ice. 
How wonderful is this beneficent operation of Providence, when 
we think that this warm stream felt on our own shores, which are 
thus bathed with water heated under a tropical sun, comes from a 
distance of four thousand miles ! Nor is its influence thus circum- 
scribed. In mid-winter, off the inclement coasts of America, be- 
tween Cape Hatteras and Newfoundland, ships when beaten back 
from their harbours by fierce north-westers, loaded down with ice, 
and in danger of founding, turn their prows to the east, and seek 
relief and comfort in the Gulf-Stream. In high northern latitudes, 
" after having run three thousand miles towards the north, it still 
preserves even in winter the heat of summer. With this tempera- 
ture, it spreads itself out for thousands of square leagues over the 
cold waters around, and covers the ocean with a mantle of warmth 
that serves so much to mitigate in Europe the rigours of winter." 
With a breadth of about fifty miles in its narrowest portions., 



CURRENTS MATERIALLY AFFECT NAVIGATION. ? 

the Gulf-Stream has a velocity, at times, of five miles an hour, 
pouring on like an immense torrent. The great cause of ocean 
currents and of the Gulf-Stream is supposed to be the winds per- 
petually blowing from east to west over the tropical seas, and 
evaporation. The currents of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean 
may be accounted for by the latter. More water passes into vapour 
than is supplied by all the great rivers of Europe and Africa empty- 
ing into the latter sea. 

The effect of currents was perceived long before anything was 
known of their direction and velocity, and Columbus was strength- 
ened in his belief that land might be reached across the Atlantic 
westward, by substances which had drifted from that quarter. After 
the commencement of his great undertaking, when, day after day, 
nothing had been seen but a shoreless horizon, and hope had 
nearly expired in his own breast, while his crew were on the verge 
of open rebellion, the effect of the oceanic currents restored his 
confidence and allayed their clamours. A branch of thorn, with 
berries on it, appeared ; a reed was picked up, and a staff artifi- 
cially carved — intimations that an inhabited land lay before the 
adventurers, which was at length revealed to their gaze, and ter- 
minated for ever the mystery which had rested upon the western 
flood. 

The currents of the ocean materially affect its navigation. While 
an intimate knowledge of them is necessary, in order to avoid the 
danger of mistaking the true position of a vessel, its progress to 
port may be facilitated by falling in with a local stream, or steer- 
ing clear of it, according as its direction is favourable or adverse. 
Currents pursuing an inverse course sometimes meet and conflict ; 
and when this occurs in narrow channels, it renders their passage 
troublesome and dangerous. When two currents thus meeting 
together are of equal force, they often cause eddies or whirlpools, 
such as the famous Maelstrom off the coast of Norway. Its in- 
fluence is felt for more than nine miles, and its power is such that 
vessels drawn into it have been destroyed. Charybdis, in the 
Straits of Messina, with its companion, Scylla, have been described 
by ancient writers as monsters. Virgil says : 



8 TIDES. 

.1 ■ - - . . , ■ ■ ■ I, ■ - ii... 1 1. -i i .» 

" Here Scylla bellows from her dire abodes, 
Tremendous pest ! abhorred by man and gods i 
Hideous her voice, and with less terror roar 
The whelps of lions in the midnight hour." 

Homer writes of Charybdis : 

" Beneath, Charybdis holds her boisterous reign, 
' Midst roaring whirlpools, and absorbs the main. 
Thrice in her gulfs the boiling seas subside, 
Thrice in dire thunder she refunds the tide." 

A Tide is a wave of the whole ocean, which is elevated to a cer- 
tain height, and then sinks after the manner of a common wave. 
The interval between the two positions forms the tide. The prin- 
cipal cause is the attraction of the sun and moon, the latter being 
the more potent agent. The sea rises or flows, as it is called, by- 
degrees, about six hours • it remains stationary about a quarter of 
an hour; and then retires or "ebbs" during another six hours, to 
flow again after a brief repose. Thus every day, or the period 
elapsing between successive returns of the moon to the meridian 
of a place — which is twenty-four hours fifty minutes and a half — 
the sea ebbs and flows twice, much less, indeed, towards the poles 
than within the tropics, where the waters lie under the direct in- 
fluence of the lunar attraction. It is in the southern hemisphere 
that the tidal wave originates, and from thence moves northward, 
influenced in its direction by the motion of the earth. Almost 
excluded from the Northern Pacific by the barrier islands and coral 
reefs which stretch across from Australia nearly to South America, 
the effect of the tides, excepting on the west coast of that continent, 
is little felt in that ocean. In the Indian Ocean, compressed be- 
tween Africa on the north and Australia and Sumatra on the east, 
it bursts in full strength on the shores of Hindostan. In the narrow 
channel of the Atlantic the tidal wave progresses northward with 
great rapidity, and on the shores both of Europe and America, 
producing, as in Southern India, the "Bore," which I have de- 
scribed in the chapter on the " Phenomena of the Ocean." 

The highest floods and the lowest ebbs occur at the period of 



WIND-WAVES. 



new and full moon near the equinoxes, in March and September 
when the moon is nearest the earth. 

Winds have also a powerful influence over the tidal currents, 
especially in narrow seas, keeping them back when blowing from 
an opposite quarter, and quickening their flow when pursuing the 
same direction ; but the motion of the water in the tide-wave is 
totally unlike that in an ordinary surface-wave, such as the wind 
produces ; and it differs, also, in affecting the whole depth of the 
ocean equally from the bottom to the surface, while the wind-waves, 
even in the most violent storms, agitate it to a very trifling depth- 
In the deep water of the ocean the tidal wave does not exceed 
twelve feet in height. 

The ancients knew that the time of high water, and also the 
height of the tide, were in some way connected with the age of 
the moon. It was the illustrious Sir Isaac Newton who made the 
first attempt to explain the phenomena of the tides, on the prin- 
ciple of the influence of gravitation, the grand agent in the move- 
ment of the universe. 

What are called wind-waves are small at their first origin, com- 
mencing with a mere ripple, or, as the sailors term it, a " cat's-paw." 
But each wave, as it advances, acquires increased height by the 
continued pressure of the wind. Thus it is that the larger waves 
are not developed in narrow seas, or where the wind blows off the 
land ; they require breadth of water and continued pressure for 
their formation. The greatest waves known are those of the Cape 
of Good Hope, under the influence of a north-west gale (the 
storm-wind of that region), which drifts the swell round the Cape, 
after traversing obliquely the vast area of the South Atlantic. In 
such gales, the waves attain a height of above forty feet, so that 
two ships in the trough of the sea, with such a wave between them, 
lose sight of one another from their decks. Off Cape Horn, also, 
the waves reach upwards of thirty feet in height. In our own seas 
they rarely exceed eight or nine feet. 

The crossing of waves, instead of dividing the water into 
parallel ridges, causes the pitching and rolling so distressing to 
passengers and trying to vessels. When more than two series of 



tb DEPTH OF THE OCEAN. 

waves cross one another, they give rise to the term " chopping n 
seas. 

The tremendous power of waves, w r hen breaking against rocks 
or any other obstacle, is fearful. They are known to dash up one 
hundred and fifty feet from the sea level against the Eddystone 
Lighthouse, and descend like a cataract on its summit. 

With regard to the depth of the ocean, it is only very recently 
that "deep-sea soundings," on the principle of Brooke's apparatus, 
which I have explained in the chapter on " Minute Animal Life in 
the Ocean," have been made with any accurate results generally, 
but even at the present time our knowledge is confined chiefly to 
the North Atlantic, the greatest depth of which, as far as it has 
(according to Maury's opinion) been satisfactorily ascertained, is 
twenty-five thousand feet; though there are, in all probability, 
considerably greater depths in the region between the United 
States, the Bermudas, and Newfoundland. Soundings by Lieu- 
tenant Brooke gave a depth of more than three miles in the Pacific. 
It is generally believed that the Arctic is the shallowest of the 
oceans. 

Judging from what has been lately discovered concerning the 
North Atlantic, it would seem as if the land surface under water 
were the counterpart, as regards eminences and hollows, chasms, 
valleys, &c, of the land surface above. "From the top of Chim- 
borazo, to the bottom of the Atlantic, in the deepest part yet 
reached," says Maury, " the distance in a vertical line is nine miles. 
Could the waters of the Atlantic be drawn off so as to expose to 
view the great sea-gash (the basin of the Atlantic) which separates 
continents, and extends from the Arctic to the Antarctic, it would 
present a scene the most rugged, grand, and imposing. The very 
ribs of the solid earth, with the foundations of the sea, would be 
brought to light, and we should have presented to us, in one view, 
in the empty ' cradle of the ocean,' a thousand fearful wrecks, with 
that^dre^dful array of dead men's skulls, great anchors, heaps of 
pearls and inestimable stones, which, in the dreamer's eye, lie 
scattered at the bottom of the sea, making it hideous with sights 
of ugly Death." 



VARIETY OF COLOUR. it 

Whatever relates to the colour of the ocean is a matter on which 
| many and various opinions have been expressed. Very curious is 
the statement of Martyn, one of our early voyagers, in his "Spitz- 
bergen and Greenland" (1671), attributing these changes in the 
sea to the colour of the skies : " If, " he says, " the sky be clear, 
the sea looks as blewe as saphire ; if it is covered somewhat with 
clouds, the sea is as greene as an emeralde ; if there be a foggy 
! sunshine," it looketh yellow; if it be quite darke, like unto the 
colour of indigo ; in stormy and cloudy weather, like blaote sope, 
or exactly like unto the colour of blacke leade." 

In the chapter on " Minute Animal Life in the Ocean," I have 
mentioned Scoresby's remarks on the Greenland Sea, which varies 
in colour from ultramarine blue to olive green ; differences which 
he found, on examining the water, were due to the presence of 
innumerable minute animals. The red, brown, and white patches 
of the Pacific and Indian Oceans are attributed to the presence of 
swarms of animalculae, and the colours of the Red and Yellow 
Seas to matters of vegetable origin. " On both sides of the island 
of Ceylon," remarks Sir Emerson Tennant, " during the south-west 
monsoon, a broad expanse of the sea assumes a red tinge, con- 
siderably brighter than brick-dust, and this is confined to a space 
so distinct, that a line seems to separate it from the green water 
which flows on either side. On examining some of this water 
with a microscope, it proved to be filled with animalculae, probably 
similar to those which have been noticed near the shores of South 
America, and whose abundance has imparted a name to the Ver- 
milion Sea off the coast of G ilifor ia." 

Captain Kingman passed through a tract of water twenty-three 
miles in breadth, and of unknown length, so full of minute (and 
some not very minute) phosphorescent animal organisms, as to 
present the aspect at night of a boundless plain covered with 
\ snow. Some of the animals were "serpents " six inches in length, 
of a transparent jelly-like nature. This appearance is noticed by 
Dr. Collingwood as a " milky sea," the whole surface composed of 
a white fluid like milk. The contrast of the ocean, thus coloured, 
with the dark sky is very striking. 



i* THE ATLANTIC. 



Having briefly glanced at some of the most important features \ 
of the world of waters, I will now direct your attention to its prin- 
cipal divisions; and these are five: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, 
Arctic, and Antarctic Oceans. Although no portion of the great t 
ocean is completely detached from the rest, the intervening conti- 
nents and islands mark it off into divisions in this manner. What 
may be called the Northern Basin contains the Arctic Ocean sur- j 
rounding the North Pole, and is bounded by the northern extre- f 
mities of Asia, Europe, and America, and the Arctic circle. The 
Western Basin extends from the Arctic circle on the north to 
a line drawn from the extremity of Africa, to that of America on 
the south, and forms the bed of the Atlantic Ocean. The South- 
eastern Basin includes the Pacific Ocean between America and 
Asia, extending in breadth nearly half round the globe, or about 
eleven thousand miles, and in length about eight thousand miles, 
from Behring's Straits on the north, to where it meets the Southern 
Ocean. Its limit on the south is the Antarctic continent. This 
vast bed of waters comprises also the Indian Ocean. 

Each of these vast ocean tracts is divided into lesser compart- 
ments or seas. 

The Atlantic (supposed to be thus termed from a fabulous 
island called " Atlantis," which was said by the ancients to be 
situated in the Atlantic Ocean) includes the Mediterranean, Black 
Sea, Baltic, Baffin's Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gulf of Mexico, 
and the Caribbean Sea. Its extreme breadth is about five thou- 
sand miles, and its narrowest part about sixteen hundred miles. 
Owing to the numerous seas and inlets connected with this vast 
ocean, the extent of its shores is immense — above fifty thousand 
miles, — several thousands more than that of the shores of the 
Pacific and Indian Oceans together. Small in breadth and com- 
paratively narrow as it is, the Atlantic, from its position in relation 
to civilized countries, and as the most frequented highway of com- 
munication for commerce, is regarded as the most important ocean, 
and is consequently much better known than the Pacific. 

The submarine cable that now links the Old and the New 
Worlds together — one of the most wonderful events in the annals 



THE PACIFIC. 13 



of mechanical engineering — is another bond of peace and good« 
will between two great nations. As was observed in a New York 
journal when the cable was first floated out into the Atlantic by 
the British line-of-battle ship "Agamemnon" and the American 
frigate " Niagara," — " What a satire this work will be upon any 
warlike armaments ! How it will put great guns, and cutlasses, 
and boarding-pikes to shame ! Gallant Jack Tars of the old time 
will soon see that their vocation will henceforth be gone. What 
would Nelson and Collingwood have said of meeting a foreign 
first-rate in mid-ocean to lay a cable at the bottom of the ocean ? " 
The Atlantic is naturally divided into three — North, South, and 
Intertropical. It stands in open connection with the North and 
South Polar Seas ; in the former the ice reaches the land on each 
side during the whole of every winter, and, indeed, for the greater 
part of every year. In the chapter on the " Frozen Regions " you 
will find some particulars on this subject." 

The Mediterranean Sea (so named from its being almost entirely 
enclosed by the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa) is con- 
nected with the Atlantic Ocean by the Straits of Gibraltar. It is 
one of the greatest inland seas in the world, and its shores were 
the successive seats of the government of the earth for thousands 
of years, " its waves washing the coasts of Palestine and Egypt, of 
Greece and Italy. It was the ' central ocean ' of the ancients, on 
which all the early discoveries and hardships of navigation were 
experienced." 

The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea form altogether a 
basin double the size of the Mediterranean. 

The sister ocean of the Atlantic now claims our notice. It was 
on the 29th of September, 1 513 — three hundred and fifty-seven years 
ago — that the discovery of the Pacific, the largest of the oceans, 
as I have remarked, was effected by Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a 
„ brave and enterprizing Spaniard, Governor of the Spanish Colony 
of Santa Maria, in the Isthmus of Darien. If you have read the 
adventures of the great Columbus, you will remember that the 
principal object of his research was a more direct communication 
to the East Indies — the reputed country of fabulous wealth ; and 



H BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC. 

this led him to the borders of the New World. In that immense 
and unexplored region his followers pursued their discoveries, and 
the result was the finding of the great " South Sea " (so called be- 
cause vessels sailing from Europe can only enter it after a long 
southerly course) by the persevering Balboa. In his march across 
the isthmus (which, if you consult your map, you will find separates 
the Atlantic from the Pacific) he had the first intimation that such 
an ocean existed. In one of his incursions against the native inha- 
bitants in his neighbourhood, he procured a large quantity of gold. 
While he was dividing the treasures among his followers, much 
disputing took place in the presence of a young chief, who, dis- 
daining broils for what seemed so mean an object, struck the scales 
with his hand, and scattered the gold on the ground, exclaiming, 
" Why should you quarrel for such a trifle ? If this gold is indeed 
so precious in your eyes that you forsake your homes for it, invade 
the peaceful lands of strangers, and expose yourselves to such 
sufferings and perils, I will tell you of a province where you may 
gratify your wishes to the utmost. Behold those lofty mountains !" 
he said, pointing to the south ; " beyond these lies a mighty sea, 
which may be seen from their summit. It is navigated by people 
who have vessels not much less than yours, and furnished like 
them with sails and oars. All the streams which flow down the 
southern side of these mountains into that sea abound in gold ; 
and the kings who reign upon its borders eat and drink out of 
golden vessels. Gold is as plentiful and common among these 
people of the south, as iron is among you Spaniards." 

From the moment in which he heard this intelligence, the mind 
of Balboa became occupied with this one object, and he steadfastly 
devoted all his thoughts and actions to the discovery of the southern 
sea indicated by this chief. It was not until the ist of September, 
15 13, that he set forth, however, accompanied by no more than 
one hundred and ninety soldiers. After incredible toil in marching 
through hostile tribes, he at length approached the base of the last 
ridge he had to climb, and rested there for the night. On the 
26th, with the first glimmering of light, he commenced the ascent, 
and by ten o'clock had reached the brow of the mountain, from 



MAGELLAN'S EXPEDITION. 



n 



the summit of which he was assured he would see the promised 
ocean. Here he caused his followers to halt, and mounted alone 
to the bare hill-top, when a bewildering and entrancing sight met 
his eyes. Below him extended forests, green fields, and winding 
rivers, and, beyond, he beheld the South Sea, illuminated by the 
morning sun. At this glorious sight Balboa fell on his knees, and 
extending his arms towards the ocean, weeping for joy, returned 
thanks to Heaven for being the first European who had been per- 
mitted to behold these long-sought waters. He then made signs 
to his companions to ascend, and w r hen they had obtained a view 
of the magnificent scene, a priest who was among them began to 
chant the Te Deum, all the rest kneeling and joining in the solemn 
strain. After this Balboa caused a tall tree to be felled and formed 
into a cross, which was erected on the spot whence he first beheld 
the Southern Ocean. He then descended to the shore, and on the 
29th of the same month reached a large bay, named by him San 
Miguel. Unfurling a banner on which was painted a figure of the 
Virgin with the arms of Castille at her feet, he marched, with his 
drawn sword in his hand and his shield on his shoulder, knee-deep 
into the rushing tide, and in a loud voice took possession of the 
sea and of all the shores it washed. He concluded the ceremony 
by cutting with his dagger a cross on a tree that grew in the water 
and his followers, dispersing themselves in the forest, expressed 
their devotion by carving similar marks with their weapons. 

Tidings of this great discovery were immediately sent to Spain, 
and received with delight and triumph. But, instead of being 
rewarded, Balboa was superseded in his command, and publicly 
executed by his successor in 1 5 1 7. 

It was seven years after the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, that 
Fernando de Magellan (or Magalhaens), a famous Portuguese 
voyager, was dispatched by the Court of Spain (by whom the offer 
of his services had been accepted), to examine the exact position 
of the Molucca Islands. He sailed the 20th of September, 1519, 
with five ships and two hundred and thirty-six men, from San Lucar, 
and proceeding to the mouth of La Plata and along the shores of 
Patagonia (the most southerly country of South America), dis- 



1 6 BOUNDARIES OF THE PACIFIC. 

covered the Straits — about three hundred miles in length — that 
bear his name, and passing through them, first launched the ships 
of Europe into the Southern Sea. 

The Pacific derived its name from the smooth surface its waters 
presented to its earliest discoverers ; though this is scarcely appli- 
cable, for it is subject to very fearful storms at times. Boldly 
pursuing his way across the untraversed surface of this immense 
ocean, Magellan discovered the Ladrone Islands and the Philip- 
pines, in 152 1, more than twelve hundred in number, and the 
greater part of which still belong to the Spanish Government. 

The distinguished honour belongs to the adventurous Magellan, 
of his ship the " Victory" having made the first voyage ever 
accomplished round the world ; but the brave commander of the 
expedition lost his life, without reaching his original destination, 
having been killed in a quarrel with one of the chiefs of the Philip- 
pine Islands. 

If you will turn to a map of the world, you will see that the 
Pacific Ocean lies between America on the east, and Asia and 
Australia on the west. It does not, like the Atlantic and Indian 
Oceans, send off branches which penetrate deeply into the adjacent 
continents; but extensive peninsulas project from the continents 
which border on it, and these, together with some adjacent rows of 
islands, stretching far into the sea, separate considerable portions 
of it from the main body of the ocean. This is less the case on 
the American than on the Asiatic side. Only two peninsulas pro- 
ject from the former, that of California (which divides the Gulf oi 
California), and the peninsula of Alashka, with the Aleutian 
Islands, which divide the Kamtchatka Sea from the Pacific. The 
peninsula of Kamtchatka, which projects from the continent of 
Asia, divides the Kamtchatka Sea from the Sea of Okhotsk, which 
latter is separated from the open expanse of the Pacific by the 
Kurile Islands. The Yellow Sea, which is farther south, is less 
distinctly separated from the Pacific than the seas farther north ; 
still the boundary-line between both seas is marked by a series of 
islands, which extend from the most southern extremity of the 
island of Kinsui to the northern extremity of Formosa. This 



EARL Y VO YA GES OF DISCO VER V. lj 

remarkable formation continues still farther south, and the Chinese 
Sea, which extends from this island (Formosa), on the northern 
tropic to the equator, although it properly belongs to the Indian 
Ocean, must be considered as the last link in this chain of sea- 
basins. On the north the Chinese Sea is separated from the Pacific 
by a single row of islands, and farther south, by a double and triple 
row. Thus we find that, although the continent of Asia forms the 
western boundary of the Pacific north of the equator, no part of 
it is immediately washed by that ocean, and its shores can only be 
reached by passing through one of these subordinate sea-basins. 

The islands near the Asian coast of the Pacific form one great 
division, called the Indian Archipelago. Another division, under 
the name of Australia (or Southern Lands), consists of New Hol- 
land (which, although ranked as an island, is considered by some 
geographers as entitled to be regarded as a continent, on account 
of its extent), New Zealand, the New Hebrides, and adjacent 
islands. The remaining islands east of the Philippines and New 
Zealand are classed together, forming the Polynesian Islands of 
the English and the Oceanica of the French. 

Most of the early voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean 
attracted unusual attention; those made in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries, from the facilities they were expected to afford in 
the ultimate discovery of the long-sought southern continent, or 
the rich booty they afforded the daring adventurers, who often 
captured the Spanish vessels loaded with money and precious 
stones. 

At the close of the eighteenth century the voyages of the illus- 
trious Captain Cook excited universal interest. They were instru- 
mental in a great degree in diverting public attention from the 
splendid and stupendous discoveries in the New World, and 
directing it to the clustering islands spread over the Pacific Ocean, 
exhibiting them in all the loveliness of their natural scenery, the 
interesting simplicity and novel manners of their inhabitants. 

Down to the time of Cook it was generally believed that a great 
continent existed around the Southern Pole, and which is repre- 
sented in ancient maps as "unknown southern lands." 



1 8 ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 

The second voyage of Cook was expressly designed to solve 
this problem, and after penetrating into high southern latitudes 
without finding anything but a few islands, the supposed continent 
was given up, and land was imagined to exist only slightly depressed 
beneath the surface of the ocean. The result of the third voyage 
of Cook, commenced in 1776, with the view of discovering the 
North-west Passage, resulted in the death of this brave sailor, one 
of England's greatest navigators, 14th of February, 1779, by ^ e 
hand of savages on the island of Hawaii. After Cook came our 
famous Anson; the French navigators, theBougainvilles,LaPerouse, 
and D'Entrecasteaux ; the Englishmen, Carteret, Vancouver, &c. 

The islands of the Pacific are historically interesting, especially 
as regards the period of our early intercourse with them. They 
have advanced our commerce and afforded means for the progress 
of science. The islands are both low and elevated. The former 
are of very small extent, and are founded on coral reefs, which 
encircle a small space of sea. It was supposed that they derived 
their origin entirely from marine animals ; but it has been since 
ascertained that these animals cannot exist in a depth of more 
than about ten fathoms, and as the islands rise with great steepness 
from a sea usually more than three hundred fathoms deep, the 
question of the origin of the islands has engaged still more the 
attention of naturalists. The volcanic islands — those raised by 
the action of fire — are of moderate extent, and generally rise to 
a great elevation in their centre. Some of them are encircled by 
coral reefs. 

Every writer on the South Sea Islands has been lavish in praise 
of their scenery, and if you read the descriptions of them in 
" Cook's Voyages," you will be able to judge of their correctness. 

With a few remarks on the Indian Ocean I will close this present 
chapter, which, although some of you, my young readers, may regard 
as a lesson in geography, is a necessary preliminary in matters highly 
interesting and of the deepest importance, and to which the follow- 
ing chapters more or less relate. With a map of the world placed 
before you, it will be an easy and pleasant task to trace the different 
localities and boundaries to which I have referred. You will per- 



INDIAN OCEAN. 19 



ceive that the Indian Ocean is bounded on the south by a line 
drawn from the Cape of Good Hope to the most southern extremity 
of Tasmania or Van Diemen's Land. Its other limits, reckoning 
from the last-mentioned point, are, Van Diemen's Land, Australia, 
the Indian Archipelago, Farther India, Hindostan, Persia, Arabia, 
and Africa. Gradually narrowing from south to north, the Indian 
Ocean forks at Cape Cormorin into the Bay of Bengal on the east, 
and the Arabian Sea on the west, the latter again branching off 
into two arms, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea ; which reach 
respectively the mouth of the Euphrates, and the neighbourhood 
of the Mediterranean. These details exclude the waters of the 
Archipelago, as belonging rather to the Pacific Ocean. 

The Indian Ocean possesses a remarkable interest, inasmuch as 
the earliest voyage on record, beyond the land-locked Mediter- 
ranean, was taken on its waters, for the navy of Solomon went 
farther than the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, by which the Red Sea 
is connected with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. In 
this respect it virtually maintained its superiority during two thou* 
sand years, navigation being facilitated by the periodical monsoons 
(explained in the chapter on the " Phenomena of the Ocean ") of 
the northern part of the Indian Ocean, blowing, as they do, alter- 
nately from the south-west and the north-east. 








CHAPTER II. 

THE FROZEN OCEAN. 

" Miserable they 
Who, fast entangled in the gathering ice, 
*Take their last leave of the descending sun ; 
While, full of death and fierce with tenfold frost, 
The long, long night, encumbent o'er their heads* 
Falls horrible." 

Thomson. 

I HOSE of us, my young friends, who pass our days in a 
sun-favoured and temperate portion of the earth, with 
every comfort we could desire around us, the green face 
of nature only covered at brief wintry intervals with a mantle of 
snow, and a wide-spread fertility attesting the bounty of an indul- 
gent Providence, cannot realize the dark and repelling picture of 
the frozen North described in the lines I have quoted, and applied 
by the poet to the disastrous fate of the earliest adventurers who 
endeavoured to pierce the gloom of the Arctic seas. 

We can only fancy, with a shudder, a winter of nine months 
reigning over the boundless regions of ice ; and we might wonder 
how human nature is able to support such an intensity of cold with 
its attendant privations, did we not know that the inhabitants of 
this bleak climate, accustomed to hardships which we could not 
endure, pursue an existence which we might consider miserable, 
but which they, active, self-reliant, and with but few wants to satisfy, 

20 



HUMAN ENDURANCE OF COLD, 21 

except the cravings of hunger, are contented with, and would not, 
probably, exchange for what we might consider a happier lot. 
You may remember the lines of Goldsmith : 

" But where to find the happiest spot below — 
Who can direct when all pretend to know ? 
The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone 
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own, 
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, 
And his long nights of revelry and ease. " 

It is astonishing what amount of cold can be endured by the 
human frame. Dr. Kane, one of the latest of Arctic navigators, 
records, 7th of February, 185 1, a frost three degrees below the 
freezing-point of mercury ! Only a few degrees above this, the 
crew of the ship engaged in the expedition performed a farce called 
"The Mysteries and Miseries of New York." One of the sailors 
had to enact the part of a damsel with bare arms, and when a cold 
flat-iron, which was employed in the play, touched his skin, the 
sensation was like that of burning with a hot iron. On the 22nd 
of the same month (Washington's birthday) there was another 
theatrical performance. " The ship's thermometer outside was at 
— 46 ; inside, the audience and actors, by aidCf lungs, lamps, and 
hangings, got as high as — 30 , only sixty-two degrees below the 
freezing-point, perhaps the lowest atmospheric record of a theatrical 
representation. It was a strange thing altogether. The condensa- 
tion was so excessive, that we could barely see the performers: 
they walked in a cloud of vapour. Any extra vehemence of deli- 
very was accompanied by volumes of smoke. Their hands steamed. 
When an excited Thespian took off his coat, it smoked like a dish 
of potatoes." 

As another instance of extreme cold in these fearful regions, I 
may mention to you how, u^der a temperature of 15° below zero, 
Captain M'Clure, one of the most adventurous of our Arctic ex- 
plorers, spent the night of the 13th of October, 185 1, on the ice, amid 
prowling bears, and that without food or ammunition, his only guide 
being a pocket compass, which, however, the darkness, aided by 



22 EFFECTS OF THE COLD. 

mist and drift, rendered useless. He, nevertheless, wiled away the 
time by sleeping three hours on " a famous bed of soft dry snow " 
(just imagine our own feelings in changing a warm blanket for a 
coverlet of ice !), and by wandering ten miles by the crow's flight 
over a surface so rugged with ice and snow as to endanger his 
limbs. It was at the close of a walking expedition of nine days, 
on a very short allowance of food and water, he accomplished his 
desire of reaching the winter quarters of the expedition, so as to 
ensure a warm meal ready for his men when they arrived at their ' 
destination. 

Sir Edward Parry mentions his experience of Arctic rigours 
thus : " Our bodies appeared to adapt themselves so readily to 
the climate, that the scale of our feelings, if I may so express it, 
was soon reduced to a lower standard than ordinary, so that after 
being some days in a temperature of — 15 or — 20 , it felt quite mild 
and comfortable when the thermometer rose to zero — that is, when 
it was 32 below the freezing-point ! " One of Dr. Kane's crew put 
an icicle at — 2 8° into his mouth to crack it; one fragment stuck 
to his tongue, and two to his lips, each taking off a bit of skin, 
burning it off, if this term might be used in an inverse sense. The 
same writer observes, "that at — 25 the beard, eyebrows, eyelashes, 
&c, acquire a delicate, white, and perfectly enveloping cover of 
venerable hoar-frost. The moustache and under-lip form pen- 
dulous beads of dangling ice. Put out your tongue, and it in- 
stantly freezes to this icy crusting, and a rapid effort and some 
hand-aid will be required to liberate it. Your chin has a trick of 
freezing to your upper jaw by the biting aid of your beard. My 
eyes have often been so glued as to show that even a wink may 
be unsafe." 

One day Dr. Kane walked himself into " a comfortable perspi- 
ration " with the thermometer seventy degrees below freezing-point ! 
A breeze sprang up, and instantly the sensation of cold was intense. 
His beard, coated before with icicles, seemed to bristle with in- 
creased stiffness, and an unfortunate hole in the back of his mitten 
"stung like a burning coal." On the next day, while walking, his 
beard and moustache became one solid mass of ice. " I inad- 



EARLY ARCTIC VOYAGERS. 23 

vertently put out my tongue, and it instantly froze fast to my lip. 
This being nothing new, costing only a smart pull, and a bleeding 
afterwards, I put up my mittened hands to ■ blow hot/ and thaw 
the unruly member from its imprisonment. Instead of succeeding, 
my mitten was itself a mass of ice in a moment : it fastened on 
the upper side of my tongue, and flattened it out like a batter- 
cake between the two disks of a hot griddle. It required all my 
care with the bare hands to release it, and then not without lace- 
ration." 

Such is a relation of the rigours experienced by Arctic navigators 
in the frozen regions ; and although, as I before remarked, the in- 
habitants of this dreary country are accustomed to the climate, they 
are frequently exposed to the most severe privations. The Esqui- 
maux, on the approach of winter, cut the hard ice into tall square 
blocks, with which they construct their dwellings. They pass their 
nights covered with bear and seal-skins, near a stove or lamp, every 
portion of the hut being closed against the piercing cold. Their 
provisions are often frozen so hard as to require to be cut with a 
hatchet. The whole of the inside of the hut sometimes becomes 
lined with a thick crust of ice ; and, if a window is opened for a 
moment, the moisture of the confined air is immediately precipi- 
tated in the form of a shower of snow. 

Without interest and adventure to stimulate the energies and 
excite the curiosity of mankind, these gloomy regions might not, 
probably, have been penetrated by the brave seamen who have 
imperilled their lives amidst those icy waters or on the inhospit- 
able coasts, and " whose explorations have developed and tasked 
more heroism and skill than, perhaps, the exploration and discovery 
of all the rest of the world since the age of Columbus." But for 
these Arctic voyagers, let me repeat, we should have been ignorant 
of the strange and wonderful countries of the North, and their 
inhabitants. These voyages originated in an attempt to discover 
a shorter passage to India across the Northern seas. In 1553 an 
expedition of three vessels for this purpose left England. The 
results to two of these ships were most disastrous, the crews, 
seventy in number, and the commander of the expedition,. Sir 



24 MODERN EXPEDITIONS. 

Hugh Willoughby, being frozen to death. Since this period, up- 
wards of a hundred expeditions have been made in search of the 
North-west Passage, that is, a navigable channel from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific Ocean, round the northern margin of America. 
Among the heroic leaders of these expeditions are the conspicuous 
names, of which you cannot be ignorant, of Parry, John and James 
Ross, Back, Franklin, Beecher, Austin, Kellett, Osborne, Collin 
son, M'Clure, Rae, Simpson, M'Clintock, and other famous men. 

So great was the anxiety of our Government to trace the North- 
west Passage, that in 1745 Parliament offered a reward of ^20,000 
to whoever should discover it, but in 1828 this offer was withdrawn, 
as the problem was still unsolved. 

The fate of the unfortunate Sir John Franklin, one of the bravest 
and boldest of the Arctic explorers, must be well known to you : 
how, in 1845, when nearly sixty years of age, he started on his last 
and fatal voyage to the frozen regions, with the ships " Erebus " 
and " Terror." The vessels were seen three months afterwards, 
but for eleven years their fate remained a mystery, although twenty 
expeditions were sent, at the cost of a million sterling, to discover 
traces of the missing crews. In 1857 the "Fox," commanded by 
the gallant M'Clintock, was fitted out, at the expense of Lady 
Franklin, on the same mission; and in 1859 the sad end of 
Franklin and his associates was ascertained. The " Erebus " and 
" Terror" had been beset by ice and abandoned in 1848; the 
commander himself died the year previously (nth of June), and 
was thus spared the agony of witnessing and sharing the sufferings 
of his crews, all of whom had, it is presumed, perished on those 
fearful shores. Many sad and interesting relics of the Franklin 
expedition were recovered and brought home. The discoverers 
obtained their information in a remarkable manner : lying amongst 
some stones, which had evidently fallen off from the top of a 
pillar, was a small tin case, deposited on this spot by the crews of 
the abandoned vessels, and containing the record of the long-lost 
expedition. 

The sorrowful end of these brave men has been commemorated 
in some sweet verses by a Devonshire poet, Mr. W, R. Neale : 



SAD FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 25 

M What though for them no marble shrine, 

Carved by the sculptor's hand, be found, 
" Or, chisell'd by his art divine, 
A tomb on consecrated ground ! 

Nor wrapt in winding-sheet nor shroud, 

Unblest, their whitening bones decay, 
While rude winds sing their requiem loud, 

By headland bleak and ice-bound bay J 

Theirs the imperishable name 

That as a meteor gleams afar, 
An immortality of fame 

Beyond the beam of Polar star ! 

And Duty, when on danger's track 

She bids the brave her call pursue, 
Dauntless and firm, not turning back 

Though Death be there, — resolv'd and true, 
One glorious end, one aim in view, 
Skall point to Franklin and his crew ! " 

It was in one of the attempts in search of Franklin and his 
companions that the discovery of the North-west Passage was 
effected in 1850, by the successful though perilous exertions of 
Captain (now Sir Robert) M'Clure, who had shared in the Arctic 
expedition of Captain Back in 1836, and in the voyage of Sir James 
Ross in 1848. Captains M'Clure and Collinson were sent out in 
the "Investigator" and the "Enterprise." The course of the 1 
lattet vessel was chiefly in open waters, close to the American 
shores; but M'Clure steered in a more northern route, and en- 
countered fearful perils from the ice in those storm-bound regions. 
During four years he underwent trials and exposures which would 
have daunted many a navigator, however accustomed to these 
dangers. His vessel, several times beset by ice, was at length so 
firmly "locked in," that M'Clure, seeing no hope of release, de- 
cided upon sending thirty of his crew to make their way home- 
wards ; some by way of North America, up the Mackenzie River, 
and the others by Cape Spencer, Beech ey Island : while he him- 
self, with the remainder of the officers £nd crew, would stay by 



26 DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 

the ship, spend & fourth winter in those dreary regions, and then, 
if not relieved, endeavour to retreat upon Lancaster Sound. Such 
was the arrangement, when an incident occurred that thrilled their 
hearts with joy. The captain and his first lieutenant were walking 
near the ship conversing, when they perceived a figure rapidly 
approaching them from the rough ice at the entrance of the bay. 
When about a hundred yards from them, he shouted and gesticu- 
lated, but without enabling them to guess who he might be. At 
length he approached, and to their astonishment thus announced 
himself: "I am Lieutenant Pym, late of the l Herald/ and now 
in the ' Resolute. 7 Captain Kellett is in her at Denby Island." 
Lieutenant Pym had come from Melville Island, in consequence 
of one of Captain Kellett's parties having discovered an inscrip- 
tion left by M'Clure on Parry's famous sandstone rock in Winter 
Harbour. 

The ship was abandoned, and the commander and his crew, 
released from a very perilous position, returned to England. This 
was in 1854. Although he was obliged to leave his ship blocked 
in mountains of ice, and had to walk and sledge over hundreds of 
miles of ice to reach other ships which had entered the frozen 
regions in the opposite direction, still, he had water under him all 
the way, and was thus the first commander of a vessel who really 
solved the problem of the famous North-west Passage. For this 
discovery he was rewarded by the Government with ^10,000 and 
the honour of knighthood. 

You may know that the term " Arctic " means properly, " lying 
near the constellation of the Bear" (in Greek arctos), and hence, 
"northern." If you examine a map of the world, you will see that 
the Arctic and Antarctic Circles are the boundaries which separate 
the frigid and temperate zones, as they are called. The seas which 
surround the North and South Poles are named the Arctic Ocean 
and the Antarctic Ocean or South Polar Sea. At the poles them- 
selves there is only one day of six months, during which the sun 
never sets, and one night of six months, when the sun never rises. 
At the Arctic Circle the greatest length of continuous light is 
twenty-four hours, at the summer solstice or Midsummer's Day; 



FEARFUL INCIDENT IN THE FROZEN SEAS. 27 

whilst, at the same time, at the Antarctic Circle, the sun is twenty- 
four hours below the horizon, and the reverse at the opposite 
seasons of the year. 

The coldness of the Polar regions arises from the sun's rays 
striking the earth obliquely, as, at the equator, the heat is produced 
by the sun's rays falling upon the earth vertically. In the Arctic 
Ocean — that part of the universal sea which surrounds the North 
Pole — lie the most fearful dangers which can beset the seaman on 
his perilous course, arising from floating ice, the ship being frozen 
in, the fogs, the blinding snow, the darkness, the storms, and the 
tides and currents, comparatively unknown, which he has to en* 
counter. 

I will relate to you a thrilling incident that occurred in the frozen 
seas many years ago, and is described in the "Westminster Review.": 
It is one of the most fearful histories that have been recorded. 

"One serene evening in the middle of August, 1775, Captain 
Warrens, the master of a Greenland whale-ship, found himself be- 
calmed among an immense number of icebergs, in abouf 77 of, 
north latitude. On one side and within a mile of his vessel these f 
were of an immense height and closely wedged together, and a 
succession of snow-covered peaks appeared behind each other as 
far as the eye could reach, showing that the ocean was completely 
blocked up in that quarter, and that it had probably been so for a 
long period of time. Captain Warrens did not feel altogether satis- 
fied with his situation ; but, there being no wind, he could not move 
one way or the other, and he therefore kept a strict watch, knowing 
that he would be safe as long as the icebergs continued in their 
respective places. About midnight the wind rose to a gale, accom- 
panied by thick showers of snow, while a succession of thundering, 
grinding, and crashing noises gave fearful evidence that the ice was 
in motion. The vessel received violent shocks every moment, for 
the haziness of the atmosphere prevented those on board from 
discovering in what direction the open water lay, or if there was 
actually any at all on either side of them. The night was spent in 
tacking as often as any case of danger happened to present itself, 
$nd in the morning the storm abated, and Captain Warrens found, 



28 FROZEN TO DEATH. 

to his great joy, that his ship had not sustained any serious injury. 
He remarked with surprise that the accumulated icebergs, which 
had the preceding evening formed an impenetrable barrier, had 
been separated and disengaged by the wind, and that in one place 
a canal of open sea wound its course among them as far as the eye 
could discern. 

" It was two miles beyond the entrance of this canal that a ship 
made its appearance about noon. The sun shone brightly at the 
time, and a gentle breeze blew from the north. At first some 
intervening icebergs prevented Captain Warrens from distinctlr 
seeing anything but her masts, but he was struck by the strangi 
manner in which her sails were disposed, and with the dismantled 
aspect of her yards and rigging. She continued to go before the 
wind for a few furlongs, and then grounding upon the low icebergs, 
remained motionless. Captain Warrens' curiosity was so much 
excited that he immediately leaped into his boat, with several 
seamen, and rowed towards her. 

"On approaching, he observed that her hull was considerably 
weather-beaten, and not a soul appeared on the deck, which was 
covered with snow to a considerable depth. He hailed her crew 
several times, but no answer was returned. Previous to stepping 
on board, an open port-hole near the main-chains caught his eye„ 
and on looking in he perceived a man reclining back in a chair, 
with writing materials before him, but the feebleness of the light 
made everything indistinct. The party went upon deck, and 
having uncovered the hatchway, which they found closed, they 
descended below. 

"They first came to the cabin which Captain Warrens had 
viewed through the port-hole. A tremor seized him as he entered 
it. Its inmate retained his former position, and seemed to be in- 
sensible to the presence of the strangers. He was found to be a 
corpse, and a green damp mould had covered his cheeks and fore- 
head, and veiled his eye-balls. He had a pen in his hand, and 
a log-book lay before him, the last sentence in whose unfinished 
page ran thus ; — ' November nth, 1762. We have now been en- 



ENTRIES IN THE LOG-BOOK. iQ 

closed in the ice seventeen days. The fire went out yesterday, 
and our master has been trying ever since to kindle it again, 
but without success. His wife died this morning. There is no 
relief/ 

" Captain Warrens and his men hurried from the spot without 
uttering a word. On entering the principal cabin, the first object 
that attracted their attention was the dead body of a female, re- 
clining on a bed in an attitude of deep interest and attention. 
Her countenance retained the freshness of life, and a contraction 
of the limbs alone showed that her form was inanimate. Seated 
on the floor was the corpse of an apparently young man, holding 
a steel in one hand and a flint in the other, as if in the act of 
Striking fire upon some tinder which lay beside him. In the fore- 
part of the vessel several sailors were found lying dead in their 
berths, and the body of a boy was crouched at the bottom of the 
gangway stairs. 

" Neither provisions nor fuel could be discovered anywhere ; but 
Captain Warrens was prevented, by the superstitious prejudices of 
his seamen, from examining the vessel as minutely as he wished to 
have done. He therefore carried away the log-book already men- 
tioned, and, returning to his own ship, immediately steered to the 
southward, deeply impressed with the awful example which he had 
Just witnessed of the danger of navigating the Polar seas in high 
northern latitudes. On returning to England he made various in- 
quiries respecting vessels that had disappeared in an unknown way; 
and by comparing these results with the information which was 
afforded by the written documents in his possession, he ascertained 
the name and history of the imprisoned ship and of her unfortu- 
nate master, and found that she had been frozen in thirteen years 
previous to the time of his discovering her imprisoned in the 
ice," 

I could relate other instances, and I am sorry to add, many such, 
of fearful calamities that have occurred in the ice regions ; but I 
have no inclination to dwell upon such sad topics further than is 
necessary to show you the perils encountered by our brave naviga- 
tors in those dreary quarters. 



3b HORRORS OF AN ARCTIC WINTER. 

The poet Thomson, in his " Seasons," has drawn a graphic 
picture of the accumulated horrors of an Arctic winter : 

66 111 fares the bark, with trembling wretches charged, 
That, toss'd amid the floating fragments, moors 
Beneath the shelter of an icy isle, 
"While night o'erwhelms the sea, and horror looks 
More horrible. Can human force endure 
The assembled mischiefs that besiege them round? 
Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness, 
The roar of wind and waves, the crush of ice, 
Now ceasing, now renew'd with louder rage, 
And in dire echoes bellowing round the mam. w 





- CHAPTER III. i 

ICEBERGS, 

"These are 
The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls 
Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps, 
And throned eternity in icy hallfe 
Of cold sublimity. " 

Byron. 

MONG the most imposing and grand of the many wonders 
of the ocean world, are the fixed and floating icebergs, 
the " palaces of nature," which assume extraordinary and 
fantastic shapes, and more than realize the most sublime concep- 
tions of the imagination. " Well, indeed," observes Snow in his 
" Journal of the Arctic Seas/' " may the mind become awe-struck 
and the heart almost cease to beat as the lips exclaim, ' Wonderful 
Thou art in all Thy works ! Heaven and earth are full of the 
majesty of Thy glory V on beholding these mighty and surpassing 
works of the great Creator. East and west, and north and south, 
the Arctic regions present a picture of grandeur and magnificence 
nowhere to be equalled — great beyond conception — impossible to 
be truly pourtrayed." 

These icebergs are described by Arctic navigators as mimicking 
every style of architecture on earth ; cathedrals with pillars, arches, 
portals and towering pinnacles, overhanging cliffs, the ruins of a 
garble city, palaces, pyramids, and obelisks ; castles with towers, 



32 CHANGING TINTS OF ICEBERGS. 

walls, bastions, fortifications, and bridges ; a fleet of colossal men- 
of-war under full sail ; trees, animals, and human beings : one is 
described as an enormous balloon lying on its side in a collapsed 
state. A number of icebergs seen at the distance of a few miles 
presented the appearance of a mountainous country, deceiving the 
eyes of experienced mariners. 

These icebergs differ somewhat in colour according to age, 
solidity, or the atmosphere. A very general appearance is that of 
clirTs of chalk, or of white-grey marble. A few have a bluish or 
emerald-green tint. The sun's rays, reflected from them, give a 
glistening appearance to their surface, like that of silver. In the 
night they are readily distinguished in the distance by their natural 
effulgence, and, in foggy weather, by a peculiar blackness of the 
atmosphere. 

The Rev. Mr. Noble thus describes the strange and sudden 
transformations and the changing tints of icebergs. "One re- 
sembled, at first, a cluster of Chinese buildings, then a Gothic, 
cathedral of the early style. It was curious to see how all that 
mimicry of a grand religious pile was soon to change to another 
like the Coliseum, its vast interior now a delicate blue, and then 
a greenish white. It was only necessary to run on half a mile to 
.find this icy theatre split asunder. An age of rain seemed to 
have passed over it, leaving only to the view inner cliffs, one 
a glistening white, and the other blue, soft and airy as the July 
heavens." Another berg shone like polished silver, dripping with 
dews, the water streaming down in all directions in little rills and 
falls, glistening in the light like molten glass. Veins of gem-like 
transparency, blue as sapphire, crossed the mass. 

" Solomon in all his glory," observes Dr. Hayes, in his " Open 
Polar Sea," "was not clothed like the flowers of the field. Would 
you behold an iceberg apparelled with a glory that eclipses all 
floral beauty, and makes you think not only of the clouds of 
heaven at sunrise and sunset, but of heaven itself, you must come 
to it at sunrise and sunset. Lofty ridges of the shape of flames 
have the tint of flames ; out of the purity of the lily bloom the 
pink and the rose. I will not say cloth of gold drapes, but water 



ORIGIN OF ICEBERGS. & 

of gold washes — water of green, orange, scarlet, crimson and purple 
wash — the crags and steeps ; strange metallic tints gleam in the 
shaggy caverns, copper, bronze and gold : endless grace of form 
and outline." 

These icebergs — so beautiful in summer, so grand and awful 
under a wintry aspect — project above the surface of the sea like 
high hills composed of rugged and steep rock. Navigators have 
frequently stated that they have seen them rising from four to five 
hundred feet above the water, and extending more than a mile in 
length. During the first voyage of Captain John Ross, Lieutenant 
Parry measured an iceberg, which was aground in Baffin's Bay, in 
sixty-one fathoms of water. It was 4,169 yards long, 3,689 broad, 
and fifty-one feet elevated above the sea. Its weight was calculated 
to be equal to 1,292,397,673 tons ! Captain Graah, a Danish 
navigator, examined an iceberg on the eastern coast of Greenland, 
and estimated its circuit, at its base, at four thousand feet. In 
height it was one hundred and twenty feet above the sea-level. He 
calculated that its contents amounted to upwards of nine millions 
of cubic feet. Dr. Hayes estimated the cubical contents of one at 
about twenty-seven millions of feet. 

You doubtless wish to know the origin of these stupendous 
floating bergs, whence they come, how they are formed, and their 
ultimate destination. It has been ascertained, beyond all doubt, 
that they originate in the land, being nothing more than fragments 
of glaciers — a name given to immense masses of ice, or appendages 
to snow mountains. By far the larger number of these are formed 
on the coasts of Greenland. The mountains are always covered 
with snow ; the valleys between them are filled with ice, derived 
from the higher portions of the mountains, and are thus converted 
into enormous glaciers. If the extent of all the shores of Green- 
land, in which the glaciers advance to the very sea, were put to- 
gether, it is probable they would constitute a coast-line exceeding 
six hundred miles in length. These are the birth-places of the ice- 
bergs. The average height or depth of the ice at its free edge, or 
seaward in these valleys, is about twelve or fifteen hundred feet. 
As the glaciers advance farther into the sea, the rise and fall of the 

a 



34 TERRORS OF NA VIGA TORS AMONG ICEBERGS. 

tide undermine the base, and enormous masses become detached 
and fall into the sea with a crash like thunder. The icebergs thus 
formed — vast moving mountains or islands — are drifted along, some 
finding their way to the Northern Atlantic — a distance of more 
than two thousand two hundred miles from the place of their de- 
parture — brought down by a powerful current which appears to 
originate under the immense masses of ice which surround the 
Arctic Pole. 

"Winter's flotilla by their captain led 
(Who boasts with them to make his prowess known. 
And plant his foot beyond the Arctic zone) : 
Islands of ice so wedged and grappled lie, 
One moving continent appals the eye, 
And to the ear renews those notes of doom 
That brought portentous warnings through the gloom : 
For loud and louder, with explosive shocks, 
Sudden convulsions split the frost-bound rocks, 
And launch huge mountains on the frothing ooze, 

. As pirate barks on summer seas to cruise." 

Fearfully appalling are the dangers arising from these icebergs 
on their floating voyages, and we cannot wonder at the terror ex- 
cited by their appearance among the early navigators among these 
ice-bound seas. " In the expedition of Captain James Hall, under 
Danish auspices, for exploring Greenland, in 1605, we learn that 
the sailors were in sight of the south point of that country, and, 
to avoid the ice which encompassed the shore, they stood to the 
westward,- and fell in with "mighty islands of ice, being very high, 
like huge mountains of ice, making a hideous and wonderful noise," 
and on one of them was observed " a huge rockstone of the weight 
of three hundred pounds or thereabouts." Finding nothing but 
ice and fog from the 1st to the 10th of June, the " Lion's " people 
hailed the admiral, "calling very fearfully, and desiring the pilot 
to alter his course, and return homeward." 

The alarm spread to the admiraPs ship, and they had determined 
to put about had not Cunningham (the captain) protested he would 
stand by the admiral " as long as his bloode was warme, for the 
good of the Kinge's majestie." This pacified the seamen for a 



. 



ESCAPES FROM ICEBERGS. 35 

moment, but the next floating island of ice renewed the terrors of 
those on board the " Lion," who, having fired a piece of ordnance, 
stood away to the southward. 

All later voyagers in the Arctic Seas describe the sublimity of 
these moving mountains and islands of ice, and the fearful perils 
encountered among them. A thrilling instance of hairbreadth 
escape is related by Captain Duncan in his "Voyage to Davis 
Straits in 1826 :" "It was awful to behold the immense icebergs., 
working their way to the north-east from us, and not one drop of 
water to be seen ; they were working themselves right through the 
middle of the ice. The dreadful apprehensions that assailed us 
yesterday, by the near approach of the iceberg, were this day 
awfully realized. About three p.m. the iceberg came in contact 
with our floe, and in less than one minute it broke the ice we were 
frozen in quite close to the shore ; the floe (similar to field-ice, but 
smaller, as its extent can be seen), was shivered to pieces for several 
miles, causing an explosion like an earthquake, or one hundred 
pieces of cannon fired at the same moment. The iceberg, with 
awful but majestic grandeur (in height and dimensions resembling 
a vast mountain), came almost up to our stern, and every one ex- 
pected it would have run over the ship. The intermediate space 
between the berg and the vessel was filled with heavy masses of 
ice, which, though they had been previously broken by the immense 
weight of the iceberg, were again formed into a solid body by its 
pressure. The iceberg was drifting at the rate of about four knots 
and, by its force on the mass of ice, was pushing the ship before it, 
and, as it seemed, to inevitable destruction. A gracious Providence 
ruled this otherwise : the iceberg, that so lately threatened destruc* 
tion, was driven completely out of sight to the north-east." ! 

It has been supposed that the unfortunate steamship the st Pre* 
sident," which left England for New York in 1841, was crushed to 
pieces between icebergs. In the year that this magnificent vessel 
was lost, the Atlantic Ocean was more thickly beset with icebergs, 
and at an earlier season, than commonly occurs. This is ascer- 
tained from a report of the " Great Western " steamer, which was 
published at New York. This vessel left England about the 



36 VESSELS LOST BY CONTACT WITH ICEBERGS. 

middle of April in the same year, and encountered an ice-field, 
which extended far more than a hundred miles, and along the 
southern edge of which she proceeded. This edge was lined by 
a broad border of loose ice, consisting of numerous floes and ice- 
bergs, and a considerable quantity of floating ice. To make way 
between these masses, the steamer was compelled frequently to 
change her course, for fear of coming in contact with them. The 
number of icebergs which were in sight of the vessel amounted 
to three hundred, and the largest was three-fourths of a mile long, 
and about a hundred feet high. A similar calamity to that which 
is supposed to have befallen the " President " is said to have well- 
nigh occurred to the brig " Anne " of Poole, which, in a voyage 
from Newfoundland to England, was so completely beset by ice 
that no means of escape were visible. The ice in its whole extent 
rose above fourteen feet above the surface of the water. It drifted 
towards the south-east, and bore the ship along with it for twenty- 
nine successive days. An opening most providentially occurred, 
by which the vessel became disengaged. 

The "President," in 1841, the V City of Glasgow," in 1854, the 
u Pacific," in 1856, and recently in the present year, the " City of 
Boston," have disappeared, from, it is supposed, their contact with 
icebergs. 

Captain Ross draws a vivid picture of what a vessel is exposed 
to in sailing amidst these moving hills. He reminds his readers 
that ice is like stone, as solid as if it were granite, and he bids 
them "imagine these mountains hurled through a narrow strait at 
a rapid rate, meeting with the noise of thunder, breaking from 
tach other's precipices huge fragments, or rending each other 
asunder, until, losing their former equilibrium, they fall over head- 
long, lifting the sea around in breakers, and whirling it in eddies. 
There is not a moment in which it can be conjectured what will 
happen in the next; there is not one which may not be the last." 

It is generally found that a strong current runs along the sides 
of an iceberg, and a vessel approaching too near is violently forced 
against the mass, and dashed to pieces. 

Another source of danger arises from mooring vessels to icebergs, 



PICNIC ON AN ICEBERG. 37 

which is frequently done for shelter in strong adverse winds, or 
when the vessel is rendered unmanageable by the accumulation of 
drift-ice around ; but there is this danger : the icebergs are very 
nicely poised ; if a large piece of ice breaks off from one side, 
the whole mass is suddenly and rapidly turned over, by which 
vessels have often been wrecked or destroyed, while boats have 
been upset, even at a considerable distance, by the vast waves pro- 
duced by the sudden change of position of an iceberg. 

Scoresby relates the incident of two sailors who were attempting 
to fix an anchor to an iceberg. They began to hew a hole in the 
ice, but scarcely had the first blow been struck, when suddenly 
the immense mass split from top to bottom, and fell asunder, the 
two halves falling in contrary directions, with a prodigious crash. 
Fortunately the men escaped. 

Sometimes vessels moor to icebergs when in want of water, and 
obtain it from the deep pools which, in the summer season, are 
found on the depressed surface of some bergs, or from the streams 
running down their sides; but if, meanwhile, the iceberg should 
fall to pieces, which is likely at any moment during the summer 
season to be the case, the vessel is liable to be buried under its 
icy mooring. The precarious character of these huge mountains 
of ice will be understood from an anecdote related by Dr. Hayes, 
the Arctic navigator : " A few years ago, w r hile a French man-of-war 
was lying at anchor in Temple Bay, Labrador, the younger officers 
resolved on amusing themselves upon an iceberg a mile or more 
distant in the straits. They made sumptuous preparations for a 
picnic upon the very top of it, the mysteries of which they were 
curious to see. All warnings of the fishermen in the ears of the 
smartly-dressed gentlemen who 'had seen the world/ were use- 
less. It was a bright summer morning, and the jolly-boat with a 
showy flag went off to the iceberg. By twelve o'clock the colours 
were flying from the icy turrets, and the wild young midshipmen 
were shouting from its walls. For two hours or so they hacked 
and clambered the crystal palace, frolicked and feasted, drank 
toasts to the King and the ladies, and laughed at the thought of 
peril where all seemed §0 fixed and solid. As if in amazement 



38 ICE-FIELDS AND FLOES. 

of such rashness, the grim Alp of the sea made neither sound nor 
motion. A profound stillness reigned on its shining pinnacles 
and in the blue shadows of its caves. When the youngsters, like 
thoughtless children, had played themselves weary, they went 
down to their boat. As if the time and distance were measured, 
they were scarcely out of harm's way when the mighty iceberg 
collapsed and broke up into myriad fragments, which filled the 
surrounding waters. This was, no doubt, the first and last day' of 
amusement on an iceberg by the daring young seamen." 

Icebergs are not affected by the swell of the sea, which breaks 
up the largest fields of ice in the space of a few hours ; they rise 
and fall with a tremendous noise, though their size and form re- 
main the same. But, when acted upon by the sun or a temperate 
atmosphere, they become hollow and fragile. Few icebergs are 
destroyed in the Northern seas ; a large number get as far as the 
great bank of Newfoundland, which is occasionally crowded with 
them. 

The formation and destruction of ice within the Arctic Circle 
is a beautiful provision of Nature for adjusting the inequality of 
temperature. Had only dry land been thus exposed to the sun, 
it would, in summer, have been actually scorched by its beams, 
yet severely pinched during the darkness of the winter by the 
most intense and penetrating cold. None of the animal or vege- 
table tribes could have supported such extremes. But in the 
actual arrangement the surplus heat of summer is spent in melting 
away the ice. As long as ice remains to thaw or water to freeze, 
the temperature of the atmosphere can never vary beyond certain 
limits. 

The navigation among ice-fields and floes is beset with even 
greater danger than with icebergs. The fields frequently have a 
whirling movement, produced by the different force with which 
the current acts on the various sides of such a large body of ice. 
By this movement their outer borders acquire a velocity of several 
miles an hour. A field thus in motion, coming in contact with 
one at rest, or which is moving in a contrary direction, produces a 
terrific shock. The weaker field is crushed with an awful noise ; 



WONDERFUL FORCE OF THE ICE-FIELDS. 39 

pieces of huge size and immense weight are frequently piled on 
the top to a height of thirty feet or upwards. " Except earthquakes 
and volcanoes,'* observes Dr. Hayes, " there is not in nature an 
exhibition of force comparable with that of the ice-fields. They 
close together with the pressure of millions of moving tons, and 
the crash, and noise, and confusion are truly terrific. Of course 
no ship could escape destruction thus caught. Numbers of whalers 
have been lost in this way, and others have been overrun by the 
ice and buried in the ocean." 

Captain Scoresby relates a wonderful escape of his vessel amidst 
an ice-field, under these fearful circumstances : "Passing," he says, 
" between two fields of ice newly formed, about a foot in thickness, 
they were observed to approach each other rapidly, and before our 
ship could pass the strait they met with a velocity of three or four 
miles an hour. The one overlaid the other, and presently covered 
many acres of surface. The ship proving an obstacle to the course 
of the ice, it squeezed up on both sides, shaking her in a dreadful 
manner, and producing a loud, grinding or lengthened, acute, tre- 
mulous noise, according as the degree of pressure was diminished 
or increased, until it had risen as high as the deck. After about 
two hours the motion ceased, and soon afterwards the two sheets 
of ice receded from each other nearly as rapidly as they had before 
advanced. The ship in this case did not receive any injury, but had 
the ice been only half a foot thicker \ she might have been wrecked." 

Another remarkable instance of preservation is given by the 
same writer. During a gale attended by a heavy fall of snow, he 
had moored his ship to a floe. " About six p.m. the snow became 
so thick that we could scarcely see a hundred yards distinctly, and 
the wind was, if possible, more furious. The small icebergs now 
appeared setting towards the ship ; but as they were not of a 
magnitude sufficient to endanger us without auxiliary pressure, we 
quietly awaited their approach. The first, which was about thirty- 
six feet above the level of the sea, struck the ship on the starboard 
quarter and turned her broadside to the wind; it then slipped 
clear without occasioning us any damage whatever. The second 
iceberg approached us with more alarming rapidity, but as we had 



40 PRESERVATION FROM ICE-FLOES, 

not the power of getting clear of it, we were obliged to receive the 
shock upon whatever part of the ship it might chance to fall. It 
came in contact with the rudder, and slightly bruised one of its 
timbers; then grazing the ship's quarter and broadside, it passed 
forward to the bows, and being fortunately kept from close contact 
aloft by a tongue projecting from its base, it cleared all our boats. 
At this juncture, when the ship was so much involved with icebergs 
as to render casting off impossible, had the state of the weather per- 
mitted it, two floes came in sight from different quarters. One of 
them appeared to be rapidly closing upon us from the west, and 
the other from the south, which, with the floe that we were moored 
to occupying the eastern quarter, almost completely locked us in. 
To secure ourselves as far as possible against the crush which now 
appeared certain, we fastened by a hawser a large heavy piece of 
ice alt *ad of the ship, where the floes threatened the first contact, 
with the view of subjecting the interposed mass to the pressure, 
and with the hope of being then defended from partaking of it. 
The first shock of the floes was sustained by this mass with full 
effect, and for some time afterwards all things seemed quiet and 
safe. Suddenly, however, the pressure was renewed, in consequence, 
it was supposed, of some new stoppage to the drift of the floes, with 
tenfold violence. Our barrier was squeezed deeply into the floe, 
and prodigious blocks of ice were broken off and raised up by the 
pressure. While we contemplated their mighty effect with great 
anxiety, the berg which shortly before had passed the ship began 
a revolving and retrograde motion so quick as to overtake us be- 
fore we could get the ropes off to slack astern, and suddenly nipped 
the ship on the larboard beam and bow against the floe by which 
we rode. The force was irresistible ; it thrust the ship completely 
upon a broad tongue (or shelf under water) of the floe, until she 
was fairly grounded, and continued to squeeze her rapidly up the 
inclined plane formed by the tongue until the ice came in contact 
beneath the keel. This was the work of a few moments, and in 
ten minutes all was again at rest. When the pressure ceased we 
found that the ship had risen six or eight feet forward, and about 
two feet abaft. The floe on the starboard side was about a mil$ 



PRESERVATION FROM ICE-FLOES. 41 

in diameter, and forty feet in thickness, having a regular wall-side 
of solid ice five feet in height above the sea ; on the tongue of this 
the ship was grounded. The iceberg on the larboard side was 
about twenty feet high, and was in contact with the railing of the 
bows. It was connected with a body of floes to the westward, 
several leagues in breadth. The only clear space was directly 
astern, where a small interstice and vein of water was produced by 
the intervention of the bergs. Any human exertion for our extri- 
cation from such a situation was now in vain, the ship being firmly 
cradled upon the tongue of ice which sustained her weight. Every 
instant we were apprehensive of total destruction, but the extra- 
ordinary position of the ice beneath her was the means of her pre- 
servation. The force exerted upon the ship to place her in such a 
situation must evidently have been very violent. Two or three 
sharp cracks were heard at the time the ship was lifted, and a piece 
of plank, which proved to be part of the false keel, was torn off and 
floated up, but no other serious injury was yet discovered. Our 
situation, however, was at this time as dangerous and painful as 
possible. Every moment threatened us with shipwreck, while the 
raging of the storm, the heavy, bewildering fall of sleet and snow, 
and the circumstance of every man on board being wet to the 
skin, rendered the prospect of our having to take refuge on the 
ice most distressing. We remained in this state of anxiety and 
apprehension about two hours. On the one hand we feared the 
calamity of shipwreck, on the other, in case of her preservation, we 
looked forward to immense difficulties before the ship, so firmly 
grounded, could be got afloat. While I walked the deck under a 
variety of conflicting feelings, I was suddenly aroused by another 
squeeze of the ice, indicated by the cracking of the ship and the 
motion of the berg, which seemed to mark the moment of destruc- 
tion. But this renewed pressure, by a singular and striking Pro- 
vidence, was the means of our preservation. The nip took the ship 
about the bows, where it was received on a part rendered pro- 
digiously strong by its arched form and the thickness of the interior 
fortifications. It acted like the propulsion of a round body 
squeezed between the fingers, driving the ship astern, and project 



42 ICE DRIFTING FROM THE POLAR REGIONS. 

ing her clear of all the ice fairly afloat with a velocity equal to thai 
of her first launching." 

This is one of the most extraordinary instances on record of 
preservation from almost certain destruction. I have given the 
narrative entire, in order that you may understand the many dangers 
that beset the hardy navigator among these moving ice-mountains 
and ice-fields of the storm-bound North. 

The fields of ice that float in the Polar Seas are often twenty or 
thirty miles in diameter, and some hundreds of feet in thickness. 
It is calculated that upwards of twenty thousand square miles of 
drifting ice come down every year along the coast of Greenland 
into the Atlantic, moving on during the winter at the rate of about 
five or six miles a day. The " Resolute " exploring-ship, which was 
abandoned in Melville's Straits, on account of its being enclosed 
firmly in a vast field of ice, was afterwards found in Baffin's Bay, 
having been carried a thousand miles from its former position by 
the drift of an ice-field, three hundred thousand square miles in 
extent and seven feet thick. This will give an idea of the quantity 
of ice which is carried out of the Polar regions, independent of the 
icebergs, and drifted into warmer climates. One of the most ap- 
palling instances of encounters with the ice is related by the Rev. 
Mr. Noble : " Captain Knight, the commander of a fine brig, with 
a costly outfit for a sealing voyage, lost his vessel near Cape Bona- 
vistain 1862. Immersed in the densest fog, and driven by the 
gale, he was running down a narrow lane or opening in the ice, 
when the shout of 6 Breakers ahead ! ' and the crash of the bows 
upon a reef came in the same moment. Instantly overboard they 
sprang, forty men of them, and saw their beautiful vessel almost 
immediately buried in the ocean. There they stood on the heaving 
field of ice, gazing in mournful silence upon the great black billows 
as they rolled on, one after another, bursting in thunder on the 
sunken clifTs, a tremendous display of surf where the brig had dis- 
appeared. To the west were the precipitous shores of Cape Bona- 
vista, lashed by the surge, and the dizzy roost of wild sea-birds. 
For this, the nearest land, in single file, with Captain Knight at 
their head, they commenced, at sunset, their dreadful and almost 



ESCAPE OF CAPTAIN KNIGHT AND HIS CREW. 43 

hopeless march. All night, without refreshment or rest, they went 
stumbling and plunging on their perilous way, now and then sink- 
ing into the slush between the ice-cakes, and having to be drawn 
out by their companions. But for their leader and a few bold 
spirits, the party would have sunk down and perished. At day- 
break they were still on the rolling ice-fields, beclouded with fog, 
and with nothing in prospect but the terrible cape, and its solitary 
chance of escape. Thirsty, famished, and worn down, they toiled 
on all the morning and the afternoon, more and more slowly, be- 
wildered and lost in the dreadful cloud, travelling along parallel 
with the coast, and passing the cape without knowing it at the 
time. But for some remarkable interposition of Divine Providence, 
the approaching sunset would have been then* last ; only the most 
determined would have continued the march into the next night ; 
the worn-out and helpless ones would drop down singly, or gather 
into little groups on the cold ice and die. They had shouted until 
they were hoarse, and looked into the endless grey cloud until they 
lost heart, when, wonderful to relate ! just before sunset they came 
to a vessel. A few steps to the right or the left, and they would 
have missed it, and inevitably perished." 

The " packed ice," which results from the fracture and piling up 
of the field-ice, accumulates in immense quantities. Sir J. C. Ross, 
in the daring voyage of the " Erebus " and " Terror," had to force 
his way through a thousand miles of such obstructions, reminding 
us of the lines in the " Ancient Mariner : " 

" And now there came both mist and snow, 
And it grew wondrous cold ; 
And ice, mast-high, came floating by, 
As green as emerald. 

" And through the drifts the snowy cliffs 
Did send a dismal sheen : 
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— 
The ice was all between. 

" The ice was here, the ice was there, 
The ice was all around ; 
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, 
Like noises in a swound !" 




CHAPTER IV. 

SEALS. 

1 ' Man bends the ocean monsters to his sway 
No terrors daunt him on his arduous way ; 
Through frozen waters, or in sunlit waves, 
He seeks the Seal, unnumber'd hardships braves 
To gain a prize so rich in useful store." 

| N the second chapter I described the severities of the 
Arctic winter: fearfully grand, even under such a re- 
pelling aspect, are the ice-bound regions; impressing 
the mind with awe of that Omnipotent Being " whose foot-stool is 
the earth," and u who measureth out the waters in the hollow of 
His hand." 

I will now draw your attention to the Arctic summer, which, 
although of very brief duration, presents many interesting fea- 
tures. 

" O'er the pure expanse 
The sun like lightning throws its earliest glance. 
Yet must imagination half supply 
The doubtful streak dividing sea and sky, 
Not clearly known, 'till in sublimer day 
From icy cliffs refracted splendours play ; 
And clouds of sea-fowl high in ether sweep, 
Or fall like stars in sunshine on the deep." 

The transformation of a gloomy scene, upon which the sleep of 
death seems to have rested for the greater portion of the year, 
^ito bright, waraij though short-lived sunshine, is a change that 



BEAUTY OF THE ARCTIC SUMMER. 4§ 

can only be fully realized by those who have experienced its 
cheering effects. Commander Inglefield, in his " Summer Search 
for Sir John Franklin" in 1852, thus describes an Arctic sunrise : 
" I kept the morning watch, and was well repaid by the sight of 
as glorious a sunrise as ever gladdened the face of nature : the 
yellow tints of the golden orb shedding their refulgence on the 
rude and grotesque masses of ice scattered here and there ; and 
the land, just tipped on its snow-capped heights by his beams, 
seemed to hail the warmth which would soon send the melting 
torrents down its steep glaciers, or hurl its frozen masses on the 
deep, there to be slowly carried to the wild Atlantic. To no one 
whose mind is not wholly engrossed by the world and its busy 
matters, can a sunrise fail to lead his thoughts heavenward. " 
' By degrees, as the sun reappears above the horizon, the further 
progress of the frost is stayed. In May, as the luminary acquires 
elevation, the melting process begins, and vast fragments of ice, 
detached from the cliffs, fall on the shore with a crash like thunder. 
The ocean is unbound, and before the end of June the shoals of 
ice are commonly scattered and dispersed, and a dense mist or 
fog covers the surface of the sea. 

In the course of July the superficial water is brought to an 
equilibrium of temperature with the air, and the sun now shines 
forth with a bright and dazzling radiance. For a short time before 
the close of summer, such excessive heat prevails in the bays and 
sheltered spots, that pitch and tar are sometimes melted, and run 
down the ships' side. The air on land often becomes oppressively 
sultry. The excessive heat, being conjoined with moisture, en- 
genders clouds of mosquitoes, often obliging the natives to take 
refuge in their huts, where they smoke them out. 

The extreme dryness of the air in winter, contrariwise, is re- 
markable, communicating an electric effect on the skin. One cold 
night Sir John Richardson, the Arctic voyager, rose from his bed, 
and having lighted a lantern, was going out to observe the ther- 
mometer with no other clothing than his flannel night-dress, when, 
on approaching his hand to the iron latch of the door, an electric 
spark was elicited. 



46 PREPARATIONS FOR SEAL-HUNTING. 

At the approach of the Arctic summer, all is bustle and activity 
among the natives. The materials for the summer huts are got 
ready, and the whole household, consisting of five or six families, 
move downwards to the fishing-place, which is generally an island 
with a low beach, in a southern aspect, for the convenience of 
launching their boats or drawing the seals which have been taken 
ashore. They are not confined to any particular spot in the 
summer, unless abundance of seals are seen ; but they generally 
shift to some other station, which, in the course of former seasons, 
they may have observed as more suitable. 

The Esquimaux have their regular divisions of work. The men 
are the carpenters; the women are the tailors, shoemakers, and 
cooks, helping their husbands or fathers occasionally in their fish- 
ing. It is heavy work for these poor females, but Providence has 
endowed them with a strength of constitution and powers of en- 
durance far greater than women in more genial climates possess. 
They have to haul the seals that have been taken by the men, 
ashore, and convey them to the huts. They also flay and cut up 
the spoil. Seals' flesh forms their chief food, and they employ 
various methods for preserving it for future use. The most 
common plan is to cut it into thin strips, and dry them over a 
line in the interior of the huts. The seal-skins, which the Esqui- 
maux have a mode of rendering waterproof, form the chief articles 
of dress ; when tanned, they make excellent shoes. 

I may mention here that the Romans believed a seal's skin was 
a preservative against lightning, and they made tents of it to shelter 
themselves during thunder-storms. The Emperor Augustus is said 
by Suetonius never to have travelled without one of these skins, 
having a great dread of lightning. 

The blubber of the seal is most carefully preserved by the Es- 
quimaux, being useful in many ways to their domestic comfort, 
and more precious to them by far than wine is to others. The 
oil is the luxury of their meals, and is of a superior quality to that 
of the common whale ; their bread is nothing more than the dried 
muscular parts of seals or birds. Whatever we may think of the 
Esquimaux' partiality for seal-flesh, it is well to remember that our 



MODES OF CAPTURING THE SEAL. 47 

ancestors considered it a delicacy. The seal and the porpoise are 
mentioned in the bill of fare of a feast given at the enthronization 
of George Neville, Archbishop of York, in 1465. Sir J. C. Ross 
describes the meat as tender, but it certainly has a look and smell 
which would not be agreeable to any but very hungry persons. 

The Esquimaux are exceedingly expert in their mode of cap- 
turing the seal. This is done either individually or in company, 
or in winter on the ice. Their kayaks, or skin boats, are very 
curious :. they are about six yards in length, pointed at the head, 
and shaped like a weaver's shuttle; they are, at the same time, 
scarcely a foot and a half wide over the middle, and not more than 
a foot deep. They are built of a slender skeleton of wood, con- 
sisting of a keel and long side-laths, with cross-ribs like hoops, but 
not quite round. The whole is covered with seal-skin. In the 
middle of this covering is a round aperture, supported with a strong 
rim of wood or bone ; the Esquimaux slip into this cavity, their 
feet resting on a board covered with skin. The lance, harpoon, 
and tackle are arranged before the boatman. He uses his oar or 
paddle with wonderful dexterity, striking the water on either side 
alternately, by which means he can proceed at the rate of twenty 
leagues or more in a day. In this frail bark, which only those 
accustomed to such can manage, the Greenlander fears no storm 
or the roughest breakers, so long as he retains his oar, which 
enables him to sit upright ; and if overturned, while the head is 
downward in the water with one stroke he can recover himself. 

€& Train'd with inimitable skill to float, 
Each balanced in his bubble of a boat, 
With dexterous paddle steering through the spray, 
With pois'd harpoon to strike his plunging prey, 
As though the skiff, the seaman, oar, and dart 
Were one compacted body, and one heart, 
With instinct, motion, pulse, empowered to ride — 
A human nautilus upon the tide." 

As the natives are ever on the watch, as soon as they discover a 
herd of seals — driven usually by stormy weather into some creek 
or inlet— they endeavour to cut off their retreat, and frighten them 



4$ £XPERTNESS OF THE ESQUIMAUX. 

under water by shouting, clapping, and throwing stones. As, how- 
ever, the seals must speedily come to the surface of the water to 
breathe, they are surrounded and killed with long or short lances. 

There are various modes of capturing seals on the ice. As the 
animals make holes in it for breathing, the Esquimaux seat them- 
selves on stools, watching their appearance at the apertures, and 
rarely fail to harpoon them, enlarging the holes to withdraw and 
kill them. Sometimes, on seeing a seal lying on the ice near a 
hole, the Greenlander slides along on his stomach towards it, wag- 
ging his head, and making a sound like a seal, thus deceiving the 
poor animal into a belief that it is one of its companions. But 
the seal is usually wary — that is, the older ones — and takes every 
opportunity of escaping from its pursuers. When one is seen at 
sea, a signal is passed to the different boats engaged in the chase, 
and the animal is surrounded; a careful watch is kept for the 
moment of its reappearing, and on this taking place, one of the 
boats having advanced near enough, a dart is hurled with unerring 
aim. The seal, terrified and wounded, dives in the greatest hurry; 
but a float being attached to the dart, it is soon forced up again 
and dispatched. The wounds of the seal are then carefully staunched, 
to save as much of the blood as possible, and the body is distended 
by blowing into the cellular part, in order to render the animal 
buoyant, or, otherwise, it would sink to the bottom as soon as 
dead. 

The chase of the seal, however, is not free from danger, even to 
the expert fishermen of the Arctic shores. Should the animal be 
not too exhausted when pursued, it sometimes turns on its adver- 
sary, seizes his frail skin boat, and with its sharp teeth pierces a 
hole, when the kayak sinks with its unfortunate owner. Many risks 
also occur from the lines to which the floats are attached getting 
foul of the paddle or the arms or neck of the fisherman, when the 
seal dives suddenly on being wounded. The males are very pug- 
nacious, and have terrible fights among themselves. 

Seal-hunting, or fishing, as it is often called, is the great occupa- 
tion of the Greenlanders, and is also extensively pursued by various 
nations in other northern parts of the world. 



HABITS OF THE SEAL. 49 

You will, no doubt, wish to know something more about an 
animal so useful and valuable in many respects, and particularly 
to the hardy dwellers in the ice regions. A great many species of 
seals are met with on the western coast of Greenland; but the 
most highly-prized by the natives is what sailors call the Sea-Calf 
— so named from a supposed resemblance of the voice to that of a 
calf — or Phoca vitulina. These animals live in families, the old 
male being attended by his progeny for several generations. They 
are chiefly seen in flocks, amounting sometimes to hundreds. The 
teeth are very sharp, and the bite is severe. The habits of the seal 
are filthy, and singularly mischievous. A perpetual tyrant over 
weaker animals, it is also an object of constant pursuit with others., 
The white bear — with whom the seal is as great a dainty as the 1 
turtle is to an alderman — is constantly on the watch to surprise it 
when sleeping on the ice ; but the cautious animal usually selects 
a single piece of ice for its nap, from which it may gain a full view 
of all around, and the proximity of the water may afford a ready 
means of escape. They are also said to have a great dread of the 
toothed whales. If a grampus perceives a seal of any species bask-' 
ing on floating ice, it does its best to upset the ice, or beat the seal 
off with its fins, when the animal becomes an easy prey. 

Seals are easily stunned by a blow on the forehead, but from* 
this state they often recover, and are desperate in their revenge. 1 
The sea-calf, in particular, is subject to violent fits of anger. After 
it has been hoisted on board a ship from the boat in which it had 
been carried, apparently dead from the blows it had received, it 
has been known to recover unexpectedly, and seizing with its teeth 
the nearest object within reach, tear away such a portion as it 
could grasp. Even after death this irritation manifests itself, as the 
muscular parts of the animal — though stripped of its outer integu- 
ments or coverings — still retain the principle of vitality, starting 
and quivering long after the dismemberment of the body has taken 
place. i 

When seals are observed making their escape into the water 
before a boat reaches the ice, the sailors give a loud, prolonged 
shout, which, causing them to stop in amazement at a sound so 



5o THE FUR SEAL. 



uncommon, sometimes delays their retreat until arrested by the 
fatal blows of their pursuers. 

s In the higher latitudes, the Bearded or Great Seals are mostly 
found. These are usually of an enormous size, sometimes ten or 
twelve feet in length, and of proportionate magnitude of body. 
This seal migrates in families, the elder ones leading the van, while 
the young follow confusedly behind, playing, tumbling, and frisking 
along in the highest enjoyment, and frequently in the extravagance 
of their fun flinging themselves quite out of the water. The 
sailors call these antics "seals' weddings." 

! Though the bearded seal does not yield much oil, yet its fat is 
esteemed delicious by the northerners. The Harp Seal, so named 
from a large black crescent-shaped mark on each side of the back, 
belongs also to the ice regions, though sometimes seen on the 
British coast. It attains the length of eight, and even nine feet. 
j The seal, a name derived from the Anglo-Saxon seol, belongs to 
the Mammalia, or animals that suckle their young, and constitute 
the family Phocidce. All the animals of this class are mainly aquatic, 
but also frequently resort to land, or ice-islands, where they remain 
for days, and even months, suckling their young, or basking in 
the sun during the brief summer. The Fur Seal seems to possess, 
remarkable powers of agility on land, often escaping when pursued 
by men running fast. They cannot walk, but shuffle along, espe- 
cially over the ice, very quickly. On land the hind feet are never 
employed, nor the fore feet unnecessarily, but in moving forward 
it bends the hinder part of the spine underneath it, thus making a 
kind of arch, and then fixing the latter end, it suddenly straightens 
out the whole body in front, and in a repetition of this movement 
consists the peculiar kind of "jerking" leap for which these animals 
are remarkable. When the seal ascends an ice-island or rock, the 
ease with which it accomplishes its purpose is wonderful. It then 
snakes especial use of its fore paws, and those which have claws 
are implanted into them like so many grappling-irons, and having 
thus secured a fixed point, they raise their monstrous bodies with 
the greatest rapidity. The general shape of a seal resembles in 
its trunk that of a fish and a common quadruped; the head is like 



THE COMMON SEAL, 51 

that of a dog; the arms, which are destitute of collar-bones, are 
so hid beneath the skin of the body that only the wrists and hands 
appear, and they are then so short that they can scarcely be ad- 
vanced forwards at all. But what they lose in extent they gain in 
power. They are admirably adapted for swimming, and serve also 
for seizing or holding. The fingers have an intervening membrane, 
but they can be separated so as to diminish or increase the surface 
of the paws. In all the species the fingers can be distinguished 
through the paw, and in most the nails appear at the termination ; 
but in one group of seals there is this difference, that the membrane 
or web extends beyond the nails, not joined, but hanging down in 
the water like broad leathern strips, which the sailors call "flippers." 
The face is provided with strong whiskers placed on each side of the 
mouth and at the corner of the eye, communicating with nerves of 
considerable size, and the slightest impression produces sensation. 
The ground colour of the hair or skin of the common seal, when 
the animal is alive and dry, is a pale whitish-grey, with a very slight 
tinge of yellow. When just out of the water and wet, the colour is 
ash ; after death, and as seen in museums, the ground colour is 
pale yellowish-grey, the oil having penetrated the skin and rendered 
the hair of a more yellow hue. The fur of seals is very smooth, 
and abundantly lubricated with an oily secretion. There is gene- 
rally an inner coating of rich fur, through which grow long hairs, 
forming an outer covering. Another adaptation to aquatic life and 
a cold climate is the layer of fat under the skin, from which the 
oil is obtained, and serving, as in the case of the whale, not only 
for support when food is scarce, but protection from the cold, 
besides rendering the whole body lighter. The respiration of the 
seal differs considerably from what has been observed in most 
animals : the nostrils are habitually closed, instead of being uni- 
formly opened. BufTon examined a tame seal, and remarked that 
the period between its several inspirations was very long : the 
creature opened its nostrils to make a strong expiration, which was 
immediately followed by an inspiration; after which it closed them, 
often allowing two minutes to intervene without taking another 
breath, This power of suspension for a considerable time is of 



52 SEALS FOND OF MUSIC. 

great use, enabling the seals to pursue their prey under water. 
Seals are often subjected to enormous pressure under water, which 
must be resisted, at the respective apertures of the body, by an 
appropriate mechanism. A similar provision is made for the eyes, 
as well as the nostrils, in more ways, perhaps, than one. At the 
inner angle of the eye (which is very large and round) there is a 
third eyelid, which can be drawn over the whole eye. The ears 
as well as the eyes can be closed at will, so as to resist pressure. 

How very wonderful is the provision thus afforded to the seal, 
as, in fact, to all created objects, and how the contemplation of 
such subjects should raise our hearts to the Omnipotent God ! 

" To know and feel His care for all that lives." 

Captain Scoresby, who had numerous opportunities of observing 
the habits of the seal, states that the animal hears well under water, 
and that music, and particularly a person whistling, draws it to the 
surface, and induces it to stretch out the neck to its utmost extent, 
so as to prove a snare, by bringing them within reach of the shooter. 
Many similar observations of this curious faculty in seals have been 
related by different writers. One remarks : " In walking along the 
shore, a few notes of my flute would bring half a score of seals with- 
in thirty or forty yards of me; and there they would swim about, 
with their heads above water, like so many black dogs, evidently 
delighted with the sounds. For half an hour, or indeed for any 
length of time I chose, I could fix them to the spot ; and when 
I moved along the water edge, they would follow me with eager- 
ness." 

The food of the seal appears to be chiefly fish, although it does 
not reject other animal food, and it is said to derive part of its 
nourishment from marine vegetables. It has been found that 
seals have a remarkable habit of swallowing large stones, for which 
no probable reason has been yet assigned. The keeper of the 
celebrated "talking seal" in the Zoological Gardens is reported 
to have given his pet fifty pounds' weight of fish in a day, but this 
is by no means a limit of appetite, for double the quantity would 
no doubt have found a ready reception. This will give you an 



TAME SEALS. 53 



idea of the vast consumption of fish in its native element. A 
good-sized Spitzbergen seal in good condition is about ten feet in 
length and six feet in circumference, weighing about six hundred 
pounds or upwards. The skin and fat amount to about one-halt 
the total weight. The blubber yields about one-half of its own 
weight in oil. 

It has been supposed that seals can be easily tamed, but such 1 
cases are exceptional. Some of the common species, however, 
have shown great attachment to their owners, and exhibited con- 
siderable powers of intelligence. Cuvier relates an anecdote of a 
seal that performed very cleverly what it was ordered to do, and 
would raise itself on its hind legs, take a staff in its paws, and act 
the sentinel. At the word of command it would lie down on its 
right side or left, and tumble head over heels. It would give 
either of its paws when desired, and was equally ready at a kiss. 
Another was kept by Cuvier for a considerable time and became 
very tame. When teased it resisted, and when much irritated barked 
very feebly. It was particularly attached to the old woman who 
had charge of it, and recognized her at a considerable distance, 
keeping its eyes upon her as long as she was in sight, and running 
to her as soon as she approached its enclosure. If free when food 
was brought, it ran and urgently solicited it by the motion of its 
head, and still more by the expression of its countenance. 

Of another species of seal called the " Marbled" and found on 
the coast of France, which was kept for several weeks in the Jardin 
des Plantes at Paris, M. F. Cuvier says : " I have never known 
any wild animal which was more easily tamed, or attached itself 
more strongly. When it first came it endeavoured to escape when 
I wished to touch it, but in a very few days all its apprehensions 
vanished ; it had discovered my intentions, and rather desired my 
caresses than feared them. It was in the same enclosure with two 
small dogs, which amused themselves by frequently mounting on its 
back, with barking, and even biting it ; and although these sports 
and the vivacity of the attending movements were little in harmony 
with its own actions and habits, yet it appreciated their motive, 
and seemed pleased with them. It never offered any other retali- 



54 SEALS OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 

ation than slight blows with its paws, the object of which was to 
encourage rather than repress the liberties taken. If the puppies 
escaped from the enclosure, the seal endeavoured to follow them, 
notwithstanding the difficulty it experienced in creeping along the 
ground covered with stones and rubbish. When the weather was 
cold, the three animals huddled closely and kindly together, that 
they might contribute to their mutual warmth." The creature did 
not exhibit any alarm at the presence of man or animals, and did 
not get out of the way unless when threatened to be trod upon* 
Though very voracious, it did not show any opposition or anger 
when robbed of its food. " Often," adds M. Cuvier, " have I tried 
him when pressed with hunger, and he never opposed my will ; and 
I have seen the dogs, to whom he was much attached, amuse them- 
selves when he was feeding, by snatching the fish from his mouth, 
without his exhibiting any rage. On the other hand, when their 
mess was supplied to the seals '(for he had a companion), as they 
were lying in the same trough, a battle was the usual result, and 
blows with their paws followed, and as usually happens, the more 
feeble and timid gave way to the stronger." 

"The great Creator condescends to write, 
In beams of inextinguishable light, 
His names of Wisdom, Goodness, Power, and Love, 
On all that blooms below or shines above ; 
To catch the wandering notice of mankind, 
And teach the world, if not perversely blind, 
His gracious attributes." 

The seals of the Southern seas are quite distinct from those of 
the Northern. The most remarkable of these animals is the Sea- 
Elephant, oi Proboscis Seal, named thus partly on account of the 
very peculiar appearance of its short trunk, and also from its being 
much the largest of its kind, doubling the dimensions of its terres- 
trial namesake, reaching the enormous length of twenty-five and 
thirty feet, and being also of a proportionate thickness. Its colour 
is sometimes greyish, or bluish-grey, and more rarely blackish- 
brown. There is an absence of everything like external ears ; it 
has great whiskers of strong coarse hairs, very long, and twisted 



FONDNESS FOR THEIR YOUNG, 55 

somewhat like a screw, with other similar hairs over each eye, 
supplying the place of eyebrows ; the eyes are very larg e and pro- 
minent ; strong and powerful swimming-paws, having at their 
margins five small black nails ; a very short tail, which is almost 
hid between two flat horizontal fins : these form the distinguishing 
peculiarities of this strange animal. When the sea-elephant is in a 
state of repose, its nostrils, shrunk and hanging down, serve only 
to make the face appear larger ; but whenever he rouses himself, 
when he respires violently, or when about to attack or defend him- 
self, the proboscis becomes lengthened in the form of a tube to 
the length of about a foot, and then not only is the countenance 
changed, but the character of the voice is modified in a not less 
striking manner. Though furnished with large and powerful tusks. 
the sea-elephant is mild and inoffensive in his habits ; but when 
assailed is a formidable adversary. In Anson's " Voyages " it is re- 
lated that one of the sailors having killed a young one, and skinned 
it in the presence of its mother, she came behind him, and seizing 
his head in her mouth, so injured his skull, that he died in a day or 
two afterwards. This is not, however, their usual habit, as I have 
remarked. A young one, petted by an English seaman, became so 
attached to his master from kind treatment for a few months, that 
it would come at his call, allow him to mount upon its back and 
put his hands into its mouth. 

The cry of the female and the young is said to be like the lowing 
of an ox- but the hoarse, gurgling, singular voice of the male — \ 
strengthened by the proboscis — is heard from a great distance, and 
is wild and frightful. They are found in the Atlantic and Southern 
Oceans. The great object for which this animal is hunted is for 
the oil, which is remarkably pure in quality ; the skin is used ex- 
tensively for carriage and horse harness, on account of its thickness 
and strength. 

The Sea-Leopard is a rare species of seal, in length about nine 
feet ten inches, which has been found in South Shetland. The 
Monk Seal frequents the southern shores of Europe. 

The Otaries are a species of seal thus named because their heads 
are furnished with external ears, of which the others are deprived, 



56 THE SEA-LION. 



and from whom they also differ in other particulars. These include 
the Sea-Lion of the Northern seas, about fifteen feet in length, and 
found chiefly on rocky coasts and islet rocks, on the ledges of which 
it climbs, and its roaring is sometimes useful as warning sailors of 
danger. The old males have a fierce aspect, but it is only when 
driven to extremities that they fight furiously. The Sea-Bear, or 
Ursine Seal, is an inhabitant of the Northern Pacific, and attains 
a length of about eight feet. The hinder limbs of this animal 
being better developed, it can stand and walk almost like a land 
quadruped. It swims with great swiftness, and is fierce and cou- 
rageous. The skin is much prized for clothing in the regions 
where it abounds. 





CHAPTER V. 



THE MONARCH OF THE OCEAN. 

u Come, coil in the warp, see the hatchets be sharp. 
And make ready the irons and lance ; 
Each man ship his oar, and leave nothing on shore 
That is needful the voyage to advance. 
See the buoy be made tight, 
And the drag fitted right, 
See that nothing be wanting anon. 
Never doubt, but look out 
Round about — there 's a spout ! 
Come away, boys ! let 's launch if we can !" 

Old Ballad on the Greenland Fishery. 

F all the industrial pursuits which engage the venturous 
seaman on the wide ocean, those connected with the 
capture of „the Whale, — 

" the mightiest that swims the ocean stream," 

and, I may add, in point of dimensions the monarch also of 
creation, ~ are the most exciting and perilous ; requiring the 
greatest endurance, hardihood, and courage, and at the same time 
yielding, under favourable circumstances, a substantial return for 
the dangers encountered. Large navies are annually sent on these 
expeditions by various nations, and thousands of sailors get accus- 
tomed to the fearful severity of the Polar regions, where the prin- 
cipal whale fishery is carried on, though many lives are lost and 
ships are destroyed in these enterprises. 




$8 PECULIARITIES CONNECTED WITH THE WHALE. 



Before relating to you some of the exciting adventures which 
occur in the pursuit and capture of the unfortunate whales, I will 
give you a few particulars about the animals themselves. 

There are many peculiarities to be observed in these huge 
monarchs of the ocean. They comprise a class of animated 
creatures distinct from both fishes and land animals, though par- 
taking of the characters of both. They are classed in the order 
of warm-blooded Mammalia, or creatures that suckle their young; 
that is to say, they breathe as the land Mammalia, and yet are as 
completely aquatic as true fish, which are cold-blooded. Fish 
never breathe, and if removed from the water into the air, they 
immediately die; but whales, if deprived of air, and confined 
under the water, would be literally drowned. They usually come 
to the surface to breathe at intervals of eight or ten minutes, but 
they are capable of remaining under water nearly an hour. The 
whale has no gills, but a heart with two ventricles or cells, and 
very elastic lungs in a great bony chest, into which the air is freely 
admitted, not through the mouth • for, although the animal is of 
such prodigious dimensions (some species attaining upwards of 
one hundred feet in length, and a weight of nearly as many tons), 
yet the throat is so small that it could not dispose of a morsel 
which is swallowed by an ox. Through what are popularly called 
i{ blowers " or spiracles, huge nostrils which open on the summit of 
the head, from eight to twelve inches long, but of small breadth, 
the whale can send a column of moist vapour forty to fifty feet high; 
and when this breathing, or blowing, is performed under the surface 
of the ocean, a vast quantity of water is also thrown into the air, 
and the noise made in this operation can, it is said, be heard at the 
distance of between two and three miles. 

Another peculiarity about these wonderful creatures — which, I 
should tell you, belong to the class Cetacea (from the Greek word 
kef os 9 a whale), and which comprises not only all the varieties of 
the whale tribe, but likewise the grampus, the porpoise, the dolphin, 
the dugong, and some others of comparatively very small size — 
is the tail, which is not vertical as in most fishes, but level, by 
which they are able to reach the surface of the water with greater 



WONDERFUL POWER IN THE TAIL. 59 

facility for the purposes of respiration ; and such is the strength of 
this tail that even the largest whales are able, with its assistance, 
to force themselves entirely out of the water ; and you may easily 
understand this tremendous force when I tell you that in the large 
whales the surface of the tail comprises from eighty to one hundred 
square feet. In length it is only from five to six feet, but in width 
it measures from eighteen to twenty-six feet. 

Providence has given this immense power to serve as a defence 
as well as a means of propulsion to the huge animal, for the tail 
is nearly the sole instrument of its protection. With one stroke 
of it the whale will send a large boat with its crew into the air, 
and shatter the wood into a thousand pieces. The tail enables 
the animal to rise in the water by striking a few slight blows with 
it downwards, when the head is naturally carried in an opposite 
direction, and when the whale wishes to sink, a few similar strokes 
with the tail upwards at once serve to bury the head beneath the 
surface. 

Sometimes the animal^ takes a perpendicular position in the 
water, with the head downwards, and rearing the tail on high, 
beats the waves with fearful violence. On these occasions the sea 
foams for a wide space around, and the lashing is heard at a great 
distance, like the roar of a tempest This performance is called 
by the sailors " lob-tailing." 

The head is of enormous size, being about one-third of the 
entire bulk of the whale, and the lips, nearly twenty feet long in 
some species, show a cavity large enough to hold a ship's jolly- 
boat and crew ; but, as I observed before, the throat is very narrow. 
It is stated to be no more than an inch and a half in diameter even 
in a large whale, so that only very small animals can pass through 
it. The basis of the head consists of the crown-bone, from each 
side of which descend the immense jaw-bones, from sixteen to 
twenty feet in length, extending along the mouth in a curved line 
until they meet and form a kind of crescent. 

In the Arctic seas whales find an abundance of food in the 
shape of animalcule, several species of marine worms, jelly-fish, 
crabs, and especially shrimps, which abound in those regions. Sir 



66 DESCRIPTION OF THE WHALE. 

■ — — •■ ■ ■< 

Tohn Parry relates that joints of meat hung by his crew over 
the sides of the ship were in a few days picked to the bone by 
shrimps. 

Some species of whales are entirely destitute of teeth, but Nature 
has provided them with an apparatus of whalebone, for the purpose 
of straining out of the water the small animals which form their 
nourishment. There are several hundreds of these plates on each 
side of the mouth, the whole quantity in that of a large whale 
sometimes weighing nearly two tons. 

The tongue of the whale is a soft thick mass, not extending beyond 
the back of the mouth. It was formerly considered a great delicacy 
of the table, and a right of royalty. The sword-fish, an implacable 
enemy of the whale, has a similar relish for the tongue, and, it is 
said, leaves the rest of the carcase untouched. The skin of the 
whale is naked and smooth, with the exception of a few bristles 
about the jaws, and is covered with an oily fluid, which renders it 
very slippery; beneath this is a thick layer, from eight to twenty 
inches, of a fatty substance, called blubber, the most valuable part of 
the animal, and which yields on boiling nearly its own bulk of thick 
coarse glutinous oil. It is by this wrapper that Providence enables 
the whale, a warm-blooded animal, as I told you, to defy the utmost 
extremity of cold, and to retain a sufficient proportion of heat even 
under the icy Polar seas. It also serves to make the specific gravity 
of the body much lighter than it otherwise would be, so as to resist 
the pressure of the water at the great depths to which the whale 
descends. Yet it is this warm covering, so essential to the animal 
itself, that has excited the cupidity and deadly pursuit of man, 
causing him to brave the most appalling dangers, trusting to the 
resources of art in the instruments of destruction where brute force 
alone could never prevail. 

To give an idea of the quantity and value of the oil obtained 
from a Greenland whale of sixty feet in length, it has been stated 
that the weight of the animal, being seventy tons, would be nearly 
that of three hundred fat oxen. Of this vast mass the oil of a rich 
whale comprises about thirty tons, which renders it a valuable 
capture. 



ESQUIMAUX METHOD OF ATTACKING WHALES. 61 

The whale has no external ear, but, when the skin is removed, 
a small opening is perceived for the admission of sound. This 
sense may seem imperfect, yet the animal, by a quick perception of 
all movements made on the water, discovers danger at a great dis- 
tance. The eyes appear small for such a huge animal, being about 
the size of those of an ox; but the sense of seeing is very acute. 
Behind them are the fins ; these are about nine feet long and four 
or five feet broad, and are enclosed by very elastic membranes, 
also provided with bones, similar in form and number to those of 
the human hand. 

The whale does not attain his full growth under twenty-five 
years, and is said to reach a very great age. The flesh is red, firm, 
and coarse, and is eaten raw by the Esquimaux, who also drink the 
oil with much enjoyment. Captain Hall, however, who lived some 
years among this people, declares the meat " to be tougher than 
any bull beef in Christendom." 

I think we should scarcely like to try our appetites upon such 
food, but in the bleak Polar regions, where the means for satisfying 
hunger are very scanty, the capture of a whale by the natives is an 
occasion for great rejoicing. 

Captain M'Clure mentions the Esquimaux method of attacking 
the whale: 

"An oniaiak, or woman's boat, is manned by ladies, having as 
harpooner a chosen man of the tribe, and a shoal of small fry in 
the form of kayaks, or single men canoes, are in attendance. The 
harpooner singles out a whale and drives his weapon into its flesh. 
To the harpoon an inflated seal-skin is attached by means of a 
walrus-hide thong. The wounded fish is then incessantly harassed 
by the men in the kayaks with harpoons, a number of which, when 
attached to a whale, baffle its efforts to escape and wear out its 
strength, until, in the course of a day, the whale dies from sheer 
exhaustion and loss of blood. 

" The harpooner, after a successful day's sport, is a very great 
personage, and is invariably decorated with the Esquimaux order 
of the blue ribbon, that is, he has a blue line drawn down his face 
over the bridge of his nose," 



62 THE SPERM WHALE. 

The whale not only serves for food to the hardy Greenlanders, 
but is also valuable in many other ways : some membranes of the 
stomach are used for the upper articles of clothing ; the bones are 
converted into harpoons and spears for striking the seals or dart- 
ing at sea-birds, and are also employed in the erection of their 
tents, and some tribes use them in the formation of their boats. 

My preceding remarks have applied to the whale tribe generally, 
but with a more direct allusion to the " Greenland " or " right " 
whale, as it is called, from its producing the greatest amount of oil. 
This animal inhabits the seas of the Northern parts of the world, 
and abounds chiefly in the Arctic regions. The " Southern," or 
" Cape " whale is a distinct species, the head being smaller in pro- 
portion than its Northern relative, and its colour an uniform black. 
It attains the length of from fifty to sixty feet. 

The Northern Rorqual, which exists in great numbers in the 
Northern seas, is the largest of the whale tribe, the mightiest giant 
among giants, attaining the vast length of from one hundred to 
one hundred and ten feet, with a bodily circumference of from 
thirty to forty feet. The amazing speed and activity of this im- 
mense animal renders it a dangerous object to attack; besides, 
the small quantity of oil it affords does not repay the fisherman 
for his risk. This whale has no teeth. When struck by a harpoon, 
it has been known to run off four hundred and eighty fathoms 
(two thousand eight hundred and eighty feet) of rope in a minute. 
Martyns, an old Arctic navigator, mentions an instance of a 
" razor-back," as the great rorqual is called by seamen, dragging a 
large boat with its crew amongst loose ice, where they all perished. 

The Smaller Rorqual, measuring from fifteen to twenty-five 
feet, frequents the rocky bays of Greenland, and is considered a 
tender morsel by the natives. There is also a " Rorqual " of the 
Southern seas, an animal of great power and a fast swimmer, very 
difficult to capture. The most valuable whale in the Southern 
seas is one of which you have no doubt often read, the " Cachalot" 
(so named from cachose, a tooth, in the Basque language — having 
teeth in the lower jaw only) or 1? Sperm " whale, which supplies the 
spermaceti and ambergris of commerce. This immense animal, 



CURIOUS PECULIARITIES OF SPERM WHALES. 63 

which grows to the length of from seventy to eighty feet, is found 
in almost every part of the warm latitudes. It has some curious 
peculiarities: the head has in front a. very thick blunt extremity 
called the snout or nose, and constitutes one-third of the whole 
length of the animal : at its junction with the body the animal has 
what the whalers call a " bunch of the neck," a large protuberance 
on the back, immediately behind which is the thickest part of the 
body, which from this part gradually tapers off to the tail; and 
where this commences there is another large prominence called 
the " hump," after which the body contracts so much as to become 
finally not thicker than the body of a man. An immense cavity 
in the head contains cells filled with oil, which is fluid when the 
animal is alive, and after its death takes a concrete form known as 
spermaceti. The size of this cavity may be judged from what is 
said, that in a large whale it sometimes contains a ton, or more 
than ten barrels of spermaceti. As a contrast to the contracted 
gullet of the Greenland whale, the throat of the sperrn whale is 
capacious enough to give passage to the body of a man. The food 
of this huge monster consists principally of a species of polypus 
called "squid" by the sailors, and it is supposed that they are 
attracted by the shining white of the inner part of the whale's 
mouth. The sperm whale is generally seen in herds, or " schools " 
as they are called, consisting of several hundreds. With each herd 
of females, large males or " schoolmasters " are always associated, 
who are extremely jealous of intruders, and fight fiercely to main- 
tain their rights. The large whale is generally incautious, and if 
alone is attacked without much difficulty, and is easily killed, as 
he frequently after receiving the first plunge of the harpoon appears 
hardly to feel it, but continues lying like a log of wood before he 
attempts to escape. Large whales, however, are sometimes very 
cunning and courageous, and commit fearful havoc with their tails 
amd jaws. When alarmed they are said to perform many unusual 
actions : one of these consists in moving the tail slowly from side 
to side on the surface of the water, as if feeling for any object that 
may be near. It also rolls over and over on the surface, especially 
when harpooned, and in this way will coil an amazing length of 



64 THE WHITE WHALE. 

line around it. One of its most surprising feats is leaping out of 
the water. Darwin in his " Journal of Researches," remarks that 
off Tierra del Fuego he saw several spermaceti whales performing 
this stupendous leap, and as they fell into the water sideways the 
sound reverberated like distant thunder. 

The White Whale is described as a very beautiful animal, fre- 
quenting chiefly the Arctic seas, varying in length from ten to 
twenty feet. It is usually of a cream colour, though Scoresby re- 
marks having seen some of a yellowish colour, approaching to 
orange. In the dreary monotony of the icy regions, a lively herd 
of these animals, by their gambols and the exhibition of their 
smooth, slippery white bodies, affords a pleasing relief. The shape 
of this whale is highly symmetrical, resembling a double cone, one 
end of which is considerably shorter than the other : the tail is 
very powerful, and being bent under the body in swimming, is 
worked with such force as to impel the animal forward with the 
velocity of an arrow. The food of this whale is said to be cod, 
haddock, flounders, and smaller fish of this description. They are 
not at all shy, but often follow ships and tumble about amidst the 
boats in herds of thirty and forty. Fortunately for them, this fear- 
lessness of danger does not often expose them to the deadly har- 
poon, their comparative little value being their preservative from 
the whale-fishers. They do not, however, experience the same 
immunity from the natives of the Greenland coast, where they 
arrive in great numbers at the close of the year in stormy weather. 
They are then chiefly captured by nets, which are extended across 
the narrow sounds between the islands, and when thus entangled 
they are killed with lances. 

Another whale, called the Dedudor, resembles somewhat the 
white whale, and appears to be the most sociable of all the Cetacean 
tribe, herding together in innumerable flocks. This leads, how- 
ever, to a prodigious slaughter of these poor animals when (although 
frequenting chiefly the Northern Ocean) they wander away from 
their usual haunts, and get driven on shore by the fishermen, the 
main body of the drove following the leading whales as a flock of 
sheep* 



GREAT CAPTURE OF WHALES. 65 

In the " Caledonian Mercury " there is an account of the capture 
of ninety-eight of these whales, in 1832, in the island of Lewis: 

" An immense shoal of whales was, early in the morning, chased 
to the mouth of the harbour of Stornoway by two fishing-boats, 
which had met them in the offing. This circumstance was imme- 
diately seen from the shore, and a host of boats, about thirty or 
forty in number, set off to join the others in pursuit, and engage in 
combat with these giants of the deep. The chase soon became 
one of bustle and anxiety on the part both of man and whale. The 
boats were arranged by their crews in the form of a crescent, in the 
fold of which the whales were collected, and where they had to 
encounter tremendous showers of stones, splashings of oars, fre- 
quent gashings with harpoons and spears, whilst the din created by 
the shoutings of the boats' crews and the multitude on shore was 
in itself sufficient to stupefy and stun the bottle-nosed foe into 
a surrender. On more than one occasion, however, the floating 
phalanx was broken, and it required the greatest activity and tact 
before the breach could be repaired and the fugitives regained. 
The shore was neared by degrees, the boats advancing and retreat- 
ing by turns, till at length they succeeded in driving the captive 
monsters on the beach opposite the town and within a few yards of 
it. The movements of the whales were now violent, but, except 
when one became unmanageable and enraged when harpooned, 
or his tail fixed in a noose, they were not dangerous to approach. 
One young sailor, however, received a stroke from the tail of one of 
the largest of them, which promised to be fatal. In a few hours 
the whales were captured, the shore was strewed with the dead car- 
cases, whilst the sea presented a troubled and bloody appearance, 
giving evident proof that it was with no small effort that they were 
subdued and made the property of man." 

This exciting scene reminds us of the lines by Waller, in his 
poem "The Battle of the Summer Isles:" 

" They man the boats, and all the young men arm 
With whatsoever may the monsters harm : 
Spikes, halberts, spits, and darts that wound so far — 
The tools of peace the implements of war ! 

6 



66 FIGHT BETWEEN A WHALE AND A GRAMPUS. 



Now was the time for vigorous lads to show 
What love or honour could invite them to ; 
A goodly theatre ! where rocks around 
With rev'rend age and lovely lasses crowned.' 

The deductor whale has a very prominent head, short and round, 
with something like a pad over its mouth, which gives it a peculiar 
appearance. In length it is from sixteen to twenty-four feet, and 
in circumference ten or eleven fe s et. Almost the whole body is 
black, smooth, and shining like oiled silk. When the mouth is shut, 
the teeth lock into each other like those of a rat-trap. They are 
generally very fat, and yield a large quantity of good pale oil. 

It is impossible not to feel an emotion of pity for the whale — 
timid and inoffensive, with all its immense power for mischief, 
apparently unconscious of it until roused by danger — subjected to 
such cruel treatment by the cupidity of man: the deadly harpoons 
inflict tremendous wounds, and the blood, rushing in torrents from 
its sides, crimsons the sea for a wide space around. In the two 
following chapters I shall allude more particularly to this subject. ; 

The whale has, however, other enemies to contend with besides 
man. Commodore Wilkes, in " The United States Exploring Ex- 
pedition," gives an animated account of a sea-fight between a whale 
and a grampus, or " killer," as this fish is called by the Americans. 

" At a distance from the ship a whale was seen floundering in a 
most extraordinary manner, lashing the smooth sea into a perfect 
foam, -and endeavouring apparently to extricate himself from some 
annoyance. As he approached the ship, the struggle continuing 
and becoming more violent, it was perceived that a fish, apparently 
about twenty feet long, held him by the jaw, his contortions, 
spouting, and throes all betokening the agony of the huge monster. 
The whale now threw himself at full length from the water, with 
open mouth, his pursuer still hanging to the jaw, the blood issuing 
from the wound and dyeing the sea to a distance around ; but all 
his flounderings were of no avail, his pertinacious enemy still 
maintaining his hold and evidently getting the advantage of him. 
Much alarm seemed to be felt by the other whales around. These 
* killers/ as they are called, are of a brownish colour on the back, 



OTHER ENEMIES OF THE WHALE. 



and white on the belly, with a white dorsal fin. They attack a 
whale in the same manner as dogs bait a bull, and worry him to 
death. They are armed with strong sharp teeth, and generally 
seize the whale by the lower jaw. It is said that the only part of 
the huge monster that they eat is the tongue. The whalers give 
marvellous accounts of the immense strength of these * killers.' 
They have been known to drag a whale from several boats which 
were towing it to the ship." 

The saw-fish is also a most formidable assailant of the whale. 
The upper jaw of this fish is prolonged into a projecting flattened 
snout, the greatest length of which is about six feet, forming a saw, 
armed at each edge with about twenty large bony spines or teeth. 
Mr. Yarrel mentions a combat that occurred on the west coast of 
Scotland, between a whale and some saw-fishes, aided by an auxi- 
liary force of "thrashers" (fox sharks). The sea was dyed in 
blood from the stabs inflicted by the saw-fishes under the water, 
while the thrashers, watching their opportunity, struck at the un- 
wieldy monster as often as it rose to breathe. 

The sword-fish is also said to attack the whale, furnished, also, 
with a powerful weapon for defensive or aggressive war, in the 
shape of a bony snout about four or five feet long, not serrated 
like the saw-fish, but of a much stronger consistency — in fact, the 
hardest material known. 

Beset by powerful enemies, the whale must have a troublous 
existence; and if one thing can enlist our sympathies for these 
animals more than another, it is the well-known attachment they 
have to each other, and particularly for their young. It is said that 
when a female whale is wounded, her companions will remain around 
her until the last moment, or when they are themselves wounded. 
The whalers strike the young cubs, or " suckers," as they are called, 
not for their value, for these would hardly produce a barrel of oil, 
but the men know that the mother will start forth in their defence. 
She joins her cub at the surface whenever it has occasion to rise 
for respiration, encourages it to swim off, and seldom deserts ii 
while life remains. She is then dangerous to approach, but affords 
frequent opportunities of attack. She loses all regard for her owij 

6— 2 



68 ATTACHMENT OF WHALES TO THEIR YOUNG. 

safety in anxiety for the preservation of her young, dashes through 
the midst of her enemies, and even voluntarily remains with her 
offspring after various attacks on herself. 

"In 1811," says Scoresby, " one of my harpooners struck a 
sucker with the hope of leading to the capture of the mother. 
Presently she arose close to the ' fast boat/ and seizing the young 
one, dragged about six hundred feet of line out of the boat with 
remarkable force and velocity. Again she rose to the surface — 
darted furiously to and fro, frequently stopped short, or suddenly 
changed her direction, and gave every possible intimation of 
extreme agony. For a length of time she continued thus to act, 
though pursued closely by the boats, and, inspired with courage 
and resolution by her concern for her young, seemed regardless of 
the dangers around her. At length one of the boats approached 
so near that a harpoon was hove at her : it hit, but did not attach 
itself. A second harpoon was struck, but this also failed to pene- 
trate ; so that, in a few minutes, three more harpoons were fastened, 
and in the course of an hour afterwards she was killed." 

Alas, for the poor whale ! how sad it is to think of its torture 
and destruction while showing a degree of affectionate regard for 
its offspring which would do honour to human beings ! 

The poet Waller, in his " Battle of the Summer Isles," draws an 
affecting picture of these traits in the whale. Two of these animals, 
an old and young one, are embayed in the shallows . 

"The bigger whale like some high carrack lay, 
Which wanted sea-room with her foes to play ; 
This sees the cub, and does himself oppose, 
Betwixt his cumber'd mother and her foes ; 
With desperate courage he receives her wounds, 
And men and boats his active tail confounds ; 
Their forces join'd, the seas with billows fill, 
And make a tempest though the winds be still. 
Now would the men with half their hoped-for prey 
Be well content, and wish this cub away : 
Their wish they have ; he (to direct his dam 
Unto the gap through which they thither came) 
Before her swims, and quits the hostile lake, 
A prisoner there, but for his mother's sake: 



ATTACHMENT OF WHALES TO THEIR YOUNG, 69 

She, by the rocks compell'd to stay behind, 

Is by the vastness of her bulk confined. 

They shout for joy ! and now on her alone 

Their fury falls, and all their darts are thrown ; 

Their fixed javelins in her sides she wears, 

And on her back a grove of pikes appears ; 

Roaring, she tears the air with such a noise 

As well resembled the conspiring voice 

Of routed armies when the field is won, 

To reach the ears of her escaping son. 

He, though a league removed from the foe, 

Hastes to her aid. — 

The men amazed, blushed to observe the seed 

Of monsters human piety exceed ! 

Their courage droops, and hopeless now they wish 

For composition with th' unconquer'd fisl* ; 

Not daring to approach their wounded foe, 

Whom her courageous son protected so. 

The rising tide ere long their efforts aid, 

And to the deep a passage for them made ; 

And thus they parted with exchange of harms, 

Much blood the monsters lost, and they their arms.* 




CHAPTER VI. 
THE WHALE FISHERIES. 

"Why stay we at home, now the season is come? 
Jolly lads, let us liquor our throats : 
Our interests we wrong if we tarry too long ; 
Then, all hands ! let us fit out our boats. 
Let each man prepare 
Of the tackling his share, — 
By neglect a good voyage may be lost. 
Come, I say, let 's away, — 
Make no stay or delay, 
For the winter brings whales on the coast ! " 

Old Ballad 071 the Greenland Fishery. 




J HE preparation for " a cruise among the whales " is very 
exciting; not so much as it used to be, because the 
supply of oil from other sources, the general use of gas, 
and other circumstances, have diminished the necessity which for- 
merly prevailed for a means of illumination. Still there is a con- 
siderable demand for the valuable products of the whale — the oil, 
the whalebone, the spermaceti, and the ambergris, which constitute 
essential articles of commerce. 

The Arctic regions have for several centuries been the chief 
haunts of the whale fishery. There has been, however, of late 
years a great decrease in the number of whales, and the fishery as 
a speculation has become more precarious, for you can readily 
understand how, owing to the dangers which beset the Polar seas 
in these pursuits, and to which I shall call your attention in the 
next chapter, many vessels are destroyed and valuable lives lost. 



Curious customs at hull. 71 

Within a period of twenty years, no less than twenty whale-ships 
were wrecked or crushed by the ice, and the sufferings of the crews 
were fearful. 

Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire, and Hull are now the principal 
British ports for the whalers, but only a few vessels, comparatively 
speaking, are engaged in the fishery. Hull has been for genera- 
tions one of the head-quarters of the Greenland whalers, and it is 
there that many old customs and usages existed in connection with 
the fishery. The author of the " Home Tour in the Manufacturing 
Districts," while noticing the arrival of one of these vessels at Hull, 
says : 

" The interest evinced by all descriptions of persons is very re- 
markable, for it may be said that the moral and physical affections 
of half the inhabitants are more or less excited — some in the hope 
or reality of profit, direct or indirect, and others by a host of do- 
mestic joys and anxieties. A custom prevails among the seamen 
of these vessels, when traversing the Polar seas, to fix, on the first 
day of May, a garland aloft, suspended midway on a rope leading 
from the maintop gallant-mast-head to the foretop mast-head ; a 
garland, not indeed bedecked with flowers, but ornamented with 
knots of ribbon, love-tokens of the lads for their lasses ; each con- 
taining, as it were, a little tender history, sanctified in the heart's 
treasury, and with the details of which they were alone acquainted. 
This garland remains suspended, 'blow high, blow low/ in spite 
of sleet and hail, till the ship reaches once more her port. No 
sooner does she arrive at the docks than, according to long-estab- 
lished custom, it becomes an object of supreme emulation among 
the boys of the town, seamen's sons, to compete for the aforesaid 
symbol, to which end, animated by the gaze of their friends on 
shore and a spirit of rivalry among themselves, they vie with each 
other in a perilous race up the rigging. The contest was at this 
moment about to take place, the garland being suspended aloft, 
in the position described, and containing within its centre the 
model of a ship, cut from the heart of an English oak, the type of 
honest affection." 

The whale fishery was carried on successfully during the twelfth, 



72 EQUIPMENT OP WHALING VESSELS. 

thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries by the Biscayans. The whales 
taken by them in the Bay of Biscay appear to have been of a smaller 
species than those since found in more northern latitudes. This 
fishery has long ceased, owing, probably, to the great destruction 
of these animals. It is to the voyagers who, near the end of the 
t sixteenth century, attempted to find a passage through the Northern 
Ocean to India, that we owe the discovery which led to the estab- 
lishment of the whale fishery in the seas of Greenland and Spitz- 
bergen. The English and the Dutch were the first to embark in 
this adventure ; but the French, the Danes, the Hamburgers, and 
others, were not slow to follow the example. At first the whales 
were so numerous that the fishing was comparatively easy; in the 
progress of time, however, the whales became fewer, and when found, 
more difficult to take. It therefore became necessary to pursue 
them farther into the open sea. The English began seriously to 
engage in the whale fishery during the reign of Elizabeth. Hakluyt, 
under the year 1575, reports " the request of a rich merchant, to a 
friend of his, to be advised and directed in the course of killing a 
whale," with the answer " that there ought to be a ship of two 
hundred burthens, with proper utensils and instruments, and that 
all the necessary hands were to be obtained from Biscay," the 
people of which, as I have told you, were the earliest whale 
fishers in Europe. 

The ships employed in the Northern fishery are constructed 
expressly for that object, and strengthened so as to encounter 
exposure in the ice regions. They are generally of from three to 
four hundred tons, each having a crew of about fifty men — expe- 
rienced, hardy sailors— accustomed to the dangers of these par- 
ticular expeditions. Six or seven light swift boats are requisite for 
each vessel; and another requirement is what is called a "crow's- 
nest," a kind of watch-tower, placed on the main-topmast to shelter 
the man on duty, whose office it is to keep a steady look-out with 
a telescope, for the spout of a whale in the distance, or the ap- 
proach of drifting ice. 

In the cold and dreary regions into which the whale-ship pene- 
trates, it is not, or rather was not (for old customs, as I remarked, 



DROLL CEREMONIES At SEA. 73 

-*~* ■ 

are passing away) so cheerless as one would suppose. An amusing 
ceremony, similar to that of " shaving " all nautical tyros on cross- 
ing the " line/' prevailed amongst the seamen engaged in the whale 
fishery at Greenland on the First of May. It is thus described in 
"Hone's Table Book:" 

The unfortunates, upon whom the initiation of the mysteries of 
the Arctic circle were to be performed, were kept from between- 
decks, and all intruders were excluded, whilst the principal per- 
formers got ready the necessary apparatus and dresses. The 
" barber " was the boatswain, the " barber's mate " was the cooper; 
and on a piece of tarpauling fastened to the entrance of the fore- 
hatchway was the following inscription : 

" Neptune's Easy Shaving Shop, kept by John Johnson" 

The performers then appeared as follows : First, the fiddler, 
playing as well as he could on an old fiddle, " See the Conquer- 
ing Hero comes ! " Next four men, two abreast, disguised with 
matting and rags, so as completely to prevent them from being 
recognized, each armed with a boat-hook. Then came Neptune 
himself, also disguised, mounted upon the carriage of the largest 
gun in the ship, and followed by the barber, barber's mate, swab- 
bearer, shaving-box carrier, and as many of the ship's company as 
chose to join them, dressed in such a grotesque manner as to baffle 
all description. Arrived on the quarter-deck, they were met by 
the captain, when his briny majesty immediately dismounted, and 
the following dialogue ensued : 

" Are you the captain of the ship ? w 

" I am." 

" What is the name of your ship ? " 

" The < Neptune/ of London." 

'■ Where is she bound to ? " 

"Greenland." 

" What is your name ? " 

" Matthew Ainsley." 

" You are engaged in the whale fishery ? M 

"lam." 



74 COMMENCEMENT OF HARD WORtf. 

" Well, I hope I shall drink your honour's health, and I wish 
you a prosperous fishery." 

Here the captain presented the first libation of three quarts of 
rum. Neptune, filling a glass with evident satisfaction, unmixed 
with sea-water, exclaimed, 

" Here 's health to you, captain, and success to our cause ! 
Have you got any fresh-water sailors on board ? for, if you have, 
I must christen them so as to make them useful to our King and 
country." 

" We have eight of them on board, at your service," replied the 
captain ; " I therefore wish you good morning ! " 

The procession then returned in the same manner as it came, 
the candidates for nautical distinction following in the rear. After 
descending the fore-hatchway, they collected between-decks, when 
all the offerings to Neptune were given to the deputy (the cook), 
consisting of whisky, tobacco, &c. The barber then stood ready 
with his box of lather, and the landsmen were brought before 
Neptune, when the following dialogue took place with each, only 
with the alteration of the man's name : 

" What is your name ? " 

« Gilbert Nicholson." 

" Where do you come from ? " 

" Shetland." 

" Have you ever been to sea before ?" 

"No." 

" Where are you going to ? " 

"Greenland." 

At each of these answers, the brush (dipped in the lather, con- 
sisting of soap-suds, oil, tar, paint, &c.) was thrust into the respon- 
dent's mouth and over his face ; then the barber's man scraped 
his face with a razor made of a piece of iron hoop well notched. 
He was then wiped with a damask towel (a boat-rug dipped in 
filthy water), and this ended the ceremony. 

On reaching the Polar seas, the real hard work commences, the 
men being on watch night and day, and the boats kept ready for 
instant use whenever a whale is seen. On receiving an indication 



ATTACK ON THE WHALE. ?$ 

to that effect from the man in the " crow's-nest," a boat is launched^ 
having a harpooner, a man to steer, one to look after the ropes, 
together with three or four rowers, and provided with an immense 
quantity of rope ready for use. The boat is steered rapidly and 
silently towards the whale, and on arriving within a few yards of it, 
the harpooner hurls his weapon so that it may enter under one of 
the monster's fins — a vulnerable part. The harpoon, in its most 
simple form, is a spear of about five feet in length, with a much - 
flattened point, having sharp-cutting edges, and two large flattened 
barbs. These are attached to a long line at the opposite end of 
the barbed joint. The gun-harpoon is a short bar of iron w r ith the 
barbed spear at the end, and a ring with a chain for the attachment 
of the line. This is fired from a small swivel cannon attached to 
the whaler's boat ; but the difficulty in whale fishing is to secure 
the capture of the animal, who sinks to a great depth on being 
struck, alternately rising to breathe, and sinking, so that the only 
chance of success is to tire it out. This is a critical moment for the 
crew in the boat, who are exposed to the most violent blows of the 
whale's head or fins, and still more of its tail, the tremendous 
power of which I have mentioned to you. The moment that the 
wounded whale disappears, a flag is displayed in the boat, at sight 
of which those who are on watch in the ship give the alarm by 
stamping on the deck, and those of the crew who are sleeping 
below, hastily throwing on a few clothes, launch the boats, and 
proceed to the assistance of their companions. 

The greatest care is necessary by the boatman who has charge 
of the rope, in letting out and guiding the line to which the har- 
poon is attached. Should it be entangled for a moment, the whale 
would draw the boat beneath the waves. The time a wounded 
whale remains under the water is generally half an hour, but some 
stay much longer. The boats take up a position near which it is 
likely to rise, when each harpooner strikes his weapon into the 
animal, and long and sharp lances are thrust into its side, until, 
exhausted with the loss of blood, the whale gives signs of ap- 
proaching death by discharging blood from the blow-holes or 
nostrils, sometimes drenching the ice, boats, and men with it. 



76 ANECDOTE OE A DUTCH WHALING CREW. 

As the huge animal plunges along in agony, its course is marked 
by a broad line of oil on the sea, issuing from its wounds. 

The final capture is generally preceded by an awful and con- 
vulsive struggle ; the tail lashes the water with fury, and the circles 
formed on the surface of the violently agitated waves extend to a 
great distance. When dying, the whale turns over on its side or 
back, a circumstance announced from the boats by loud cries and 
striking the flags. No time is lost: the tail is pierced and fastened 
with ropes to the boats, which drag the carcase to the ships with 
boisterous cheers. 

A curious instance is related of a Dutch whaling crew, who had 
as they thought secured their capture to the ship's side, after towing 
it in triumph from the scene of conflict, missing their prize. The 
crew were giving vent to their delight, and the security seemed 
complete, for they were sailing a long distance from the ice-banks. 
They were having a good dinner to strengthen themselves before 
proceeding to the nauseous task of cutting up the animal. The 
feast was prolonged, but at length the men selected for the opera- 
tion went on deck, with an air of importance and full confidence. 
What was their astonishment to find that the whale was no longer 
alongside ! It seems that the ship, driven before the wind, had 
dragged at the animal, the cord had broken, and the rich prize, 
which had cost so much peril and fatigue, had sunk to the bottom 
of the sea ! 

A dead whale, if left in the water, soon putrefies ; it swells to an 
enormous size, until at least a third of the carcase appears above 
the surface of the water, and sometimes the body bursts by the 
force of the air generated within. 

After the whale has been secured to the ship's side, the next 
operation is what is called " flensing," or securing the blubber and 
whalebone, which occupies about four hours, and is, as you may 
well imagine, anything but an agreeable occupation. The har- 
pooners, having spikes on their feet to prevent their falling from the 
slippery surface, begin with a kind of spade and huge knives to 
make long parallel cuts from end to end, which are divided by 
cross-cuts into pieces of about half a ton. These are hoisted on 



WHALE FISHERY IN THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 77 

deck, and after being reduced into smaller pieces, are put into 
casks and stowed away in the hold. When the flensing is pro- 
ceeding and reaches the lips, which contain much oil, the whale- 
bone is exposed and detached by means of bone handspikes and 
bone knives, and is hoisted upon deck in one mass, where it is 
split and stowed away. The two jaw-bones, from the quantity of 
oil they contain, are taken on deck, after which the huge carcase 
is abandoned to the birds and sharks, which are always waiting for 
their share, and speedily devour it. In Ambrose Parey's works, 
representing the manner of cutting up a whale, a woodcut dis- 
plays a drummer and fifer standing upon it and playing ; drum- 
beating and bell-ringing being the signals given to the inhabitants 
of Aquitaine of the capture of a whale. 

In the early period of the Northern whale fishery, the animals 
being numerous and easier of capture, settlements were formed on 
the ice-coasts for boiling the blubber and extracting the oil, which 
was sent home in casks ; but when the whales diminished, and the 
fishermen were obliged to seek them in the open sea, the capture 
became more difficult and dangerous, the settlements were aban- 
doned, and the blubber was, for economy's sake, sent home to be 
boiled. In the different parts to which whale-ships are bound, 
there are establishments for extracting the oil ; those at Hull are 
on the outskirts of the town. The blubber when conveyed to the 
boiling-house is emptied from the casks into large vats, where it 
undergoes certain processes for extracting the oil. 

The whale fishery in the Southern seas does not present the 
same amount of dangers which beset the whalers of the ice regions, 
and differs in some particulars, being specially for the capture of 
the sperm whale, which I described to you in the last chapter. 
The principal occupiers of this fishery are the Americans ; still, 
there is a scarcity of whales even here. Melville, the author of 
" Omoo," mentions the remarkable expertness of the natives of 
New Zealand as harpooners in the Southern whale fishery. One 
morning, he relates, a whale was seen in the Pacific, the boat was 
pulled up to it, and a New Zealander, balancing himself on the 
gunwale, darted his harpoon at the animal and missed. After 



73 DEXTERITY OF THE NEW ZEALANBERS. 

several hours' chase under a tropical sun the whale was approached 
a second time, and the harpooner aimed twice, but missed again. 
Then the bitterest disappointment arose among the tired boat's 
crew, and their taunts maddened the New Zealander, who, on the 
boat being pulled up again near the whale, bounded on the animal's 
back, and for one dizzy second was seen there ; the next all was 
foam and fury, and both were out of sight. The men in the boat 
pushed off, flinging line over as fast as they could, while ahead 
nothing was seen but a red whirlpool of blood and brine. Pre- 
sently a dark object swam out, the line began to strengthen, and 
the boat sped like an arrow through the water. But where was the 
New Zealander ? His brown hand was on the boat's gunwale, and 
he was hauled aboard in the very midst of the mad bubble that 
burst under the boat. He had struck the whale in a vital part, 
and more than regained his former reputation for skill. 

How wonderful are human power and energy in grappling with 

the monarchs of the ocean ! 

"Leviathan — 
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep 
Stretch'd like a promontory, sleeps or swims, 
And seems a moving land, and at his gills 
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out the sea." 

In the Tasmanian Courts at the International Exhibition of 
1863 were many interesting productions of the whale fishery, which 
has become so important a portion of the industry of that colony. 
There are more than twenty whaling vessels attached to the port 
of Hobart Town, and these employ a fleet of nearly one hundred 
and fifty boats. 





CHAPTER VII. 
PERILS OF THE WHALE FISHERY, 

" Laugh at fear! 
Plunge in deep the barbed spear ; 
Strike the lance in swift career; 
Give him line ! give him line ! 
Down he goes in the foaming brine ! " 




T was well remarked by an old whaling captain that " if the 
Almighty had gifted the whale with a knowledge of his 
strength, few indeed would be caught" It is truly so, 
and there are occasions when the whale, inoffensive in its general 
habits, displays an amount of power and hostility which forms one 
of the grandest and most exciting spectacles that could be witnessed. 
In fact, the dangers which the whalers incur in their hazardous 
occupation are frequently most imminent. 

As an instance of the spirit of mischief which sometimes animates 
the ocean monarch, I will relate what happened to an American 
whale-ship, the " Essex," Captain Pollard, in the Pacific Ocean. 
A number of sperm whales being signalled by the look-out, three 
boats were manned and sent in pursuit. The mate's boat was 
struck by one of them, and he was obliged to return to the ship 
to repair the damage. While he was thus engaged, a sperm whale, 
thought to be about eighty-five feet long, broke water about twenty 
yards from the ship on the weather-bow. He was going at the rate 
of about three knots an hour, and the ship at nearly the same rate, 



So THE "ESSEX" ATTACKED BY A WHALE. 

when he struck the bows of the vessel just forward of her chains. 
At the shock produced by the collision of two such mighty masses 
of matter in motion, the ship shook like a leaf. The whale passed 
under the ship, grazing her keel, and then appeared at about the 
distance of a ship's length, lashing the sea with fins and tail, as if 
suffering intense agony. He was evidently hurt by the collision, 
and greatly enraged. In a few minutes he seemed to recover him- 
self, and started with great speed directly across the vessel's course 
to windward. Meanwhile the hands on board discovered the ship 
to be gradually settling down at the bows, and the pumps were 
instantly rigged. While working at them, one of the men cried out, 
" God have mercy! he comes again !" 

The whale had turned about one hundred yards from the ship, 
and was making for her with double his former speed, his pathway 
white with foam. Rushing head on, he struck her again at the bow, 
and the tremendous blow stove her in. The whale dived under 
again and disappeared, and the ship went down in ten minutes 
from the first collision. 

The crew took to their boats as the vessel was sinking, and after 
fearful hardships and sufferings, the survivors of this catastrophe 
reached the low island called Ducies. It was a mere sandbank, 
nearly barren, and they could only obtain water and some wild-fowl. 
On this uninhabited island, dreary as it was, three of the men chose 
to remain, rather than experience again the uncertainties of the sea. 
The poor fellows were never afterwards heard of. The three boats, 
with the remainder of the crew, put off for the island of Juan Fer- 
nandez, two thousand miles distant. The mate's boat was taken 
up by the " Indian," of London, ninety-three days from the time 
of the catastrophe, with only three survivors. The captain's boat 
was fallen in with by the "Dauphin," but with only two men living. 
Thus, out of a crew of twenty, only five remained to tell the story 
of the whale's victory. 

If the huge monster, in the exercise of his enormous strength, can 
shatter a large sailing vessel in such a way as to cause its destruc- 
tion, you may readily imagine what fearful perils are encountered by 
the hardy crews of the whaling-boats. A singular story is related 



SINGULAR ANECDOTE OF A DUTCH SEAMAN. &i 

of a Dutch harpooner, James Vienkes. A wounded whale had 
disappeared by diving, and the seaman was preparing to deal it a 
second stab, when the animal, on returning to the surface, struck its 
head against the boat and dashed it to atoms. Vienkes was hurled 
into the air, and fell on the monster's back, but contrived to bury 
his harpoon, which he had not let go, into it, and by means of this 
and the line he still held in his hand, he secured himself from slip- 
ping off. He called the other fishermen to his assistance, but their 
efforts to approach the whale were in vain. The captain of the 
ship, seeing no other way of saving Vienkes' life, called out to him 
to cut the rope ; but the harpooner was unable to do this, as his 
knife was in his trouser's pocket, and he could not let go his hold 
for an instant. The whale was meanwhile advancing along the 
surface of the water at a swift rate, and it was fortunate for its rider 
that it did not dive. The sailors were beginning to despair of their 
comrade's life, when the harpoon by which he was supporting him- 
self came out of the animal's body. Vienkes profited by the cir- 
cumstance to cast himslf into the sea, and struggling against the 
waves, regained the boats which had been unable to succour him. 
He was picked up at the moment his strength was exhausted, and 
his companions, furious at the disaster, pursued the whale, and at 
length killed it. 

Scoresby relates : "Being myself in the first boat which approached 
a whale, I struck my harpoon at arm's length, by which we fortu- 
nately evaded a blow which appeared to be aimed at the boat. 
Another boat then advanced, and another harpoon was struck, but 
not with the same result, for the stroke was immediately returned 
by a tremendous blow from the fish's tail. The boat was sunk by 
the shock, and at the same time whirled round with such velocity 
that the boat-steerer was precipitated into the water on the side 
next to the fish, and carried down to a considerable depth by its 
tail. After a minute or so he arose to the surface, and was taken 
up along with his companions into another boat." 

"In one of my earliest voyages," observes the same writer, "I 
remarked a circumstance which excited my highest astonishment. 
One of the harpooners struck a whale; it dived, and all the assist- 

6 



fa NARROW ESCAPE OF A WHALING CREW. 

ing boats had collected round the fast boat before it rose to the 
surface. The first boat that approached it advanced incautiously. 
It rose with unexpected violence beneath the boat, and projected 
it and all the crew to the height of some yards into the air. It fell 
on its side, and cast all the men into the water ; one was some- 
what injured, but the rest escaped." 

In the year 1804, the ship "Adonis," being in company with 
several others, struck a large whale, off the coast of New Zealand, 
which became furious, and destroyed nine boats belonging to the 
different vessels, and then escaped. It was captured afterwards, 
however. Many harpoons of various vessels were found in its body. 

This whale was extensively known to the fishermen under the 
name of " New Zealand Tom." 

Sometimes, as I before mentioned, the rope to which the har- 
poon is attached gets carried off, at a prodigious rate, by a whale 
*n its efforts to escape, and the boat is carried far out to sea, and 
exposed to fearful perils. The annals of the whale fishery have 
many thrilling stories of wonderful escapes in such instances. A 
very remarkable instance occurred in connection with the American 
ship "Independence," Captain Belair. While cruising in the Pacific 
Ocean, a whale was seen, and two boats were sent to capture it. 
The harpoon was fixed, and the boats were soon out of sight of the 
ship. An hour or two passed away, when suddenly another whale 
rose in the water, only a few yards from the vessel. The tempta- 
tion to effect its capture was too strong for the captain, who ordered 
the remaining boat to be lowered, and leaving but one man and 
two boys to take care of the ship, sprang into the boat with the rest 
of the crew. The harpoon was plunged into this whale also, and 
they were carried with the speed of the wind about fifteen miles 
from the ship. Then the whale plunged perpendicularly, into the 
depths of the ocean. It was not long before they saw him, fathoms 
deep in the crystal waters, rushing up with open jaws to destroy 
the boat. By skilfully evading the attack, they escaped twice; 
but the third time, as the monster rose, he struck the boat in the 
centre of the keel, threw it some fifteen feet in the air, scattering 
the fragments and the crew over the waves, and then plunging into 




(J 

< 



&4 
u 

04 



o 

03 



FATAL ACCIDENT TO A HARPOONER. 83 

the deep, disappeared. The captain and the men were now in the 
water, clinging to the pieces of the demolished boat. They were 
many miles from the ship, and could not be seen from the deck. 
The other boats were gone they knew not where. The hours passed 
slowly away, as they were drifting along at the mercy of the waves, 
until six o'clock in the evening. 

The sun had now disappeared behind the distant waves, and a 
dreary night was settling down over the ocean. Just then they 
saw in the distance one of the absent boats returning to the ship. 
It was, however, far off, apparently beyond the reach of their loudest 
cries, and their hopes again fell. The boat at length drew nearer, 
and they redoubled their shouts ; and at length they were heard, 
taken from the water, and carried almost lifeless to the ship. 

The utmost care is requisite in "paying out" the rope when 
the whale is harpooned, so that no impediment occurs. The 
safety of the boat's crew depends upon the watchfulness of the 
man entrusted with this important duty. Scoresby, one of the 
most distinguished whalers that have ever been known on these 
perilous enterprises, records an instance which had a fatal conse- 
quence : 

" As soon as the boats came within hail (sent in pursuit of the 
whales), my anxiety induced me to call out and inquire what had 
happened. ' We have lost Carr ! ' This awful intelligence, for 
which we were altogether unprepared, shocked me exceedingly, 
and it was some time before I was able to inquire into the par- 
ticulars of the accident which had deprived us of one of our ship- 
mates. As far as could be collected from the confused accounts 
of the crew of the boat of which he went out in charge, the eir- 
cumstances were as follow : The two boats that had long been 
absent on the outset, separated from their companions, and, allured 
by the chase of a whale and the fineness of the weather, they pro- 
ceeded until they were far out of sight of the ship. The whale 
they pursued led them into a vast shoal of the species. They 
were, indeed, so numerous that their ' blowing' was incessant, and 
there could not have been less than one hundred. Fearful of 
alarming them without striking any, the crews in the boats re- 

6 — 2 



84 DANGERS TO WHALERS FROM Tti£ ICE. 

mained for some time motionless, watching a favourable oppor- 
tunity for commencing the attack. A whale at length arose so 
near the boat of which William Carr was harpooner, that he ven- 
tured to pull towards it, though it was meeting him, and afforded 
but an indifferent chance of success. He, however, fatally for 
himself, succeeded in harpooning it : the boat and fish, passing 
each other with great rapidity after the stroke, the line was jerked 
out of its place, and instead of * running over' the stern, was 
thrown over the gunwale. Its pressure in this unfavourable position 
so careened the boat, that the side sank below the water, and it 
began to fill. In this emergency the harpooner, who was a fine 
active fellow, seized the bight of the line, and attempted to relieve 
the boat by restoring it to its place ; but, by some singular cir- 
cumstance which could not be accounted for, a turn of the line flew 
over his arm, in an instant dragged him overboard, and plunged 
him under water to rise no more ! So sudden was the accident, 
that only one man, who had his eye upon him at the time, was 
aware of what had happened ; so that when the boat righted — 
which it immediately did — though half full of water, they all at 
once, on looking round at an exclamation from the man who had 
seen him launched overboard, inquired, * What had got Carr ? ' It 
is scarcely possible to imagine a death more awfully sudden and 
unexpected." 

Some boats of the whale-ship "Aimwell" being in pursuit of 
these monarchs of the ocean, harpooned one. When struck, the 
animal only dived for a moment, and then rose again beneath the 
boa.t, struck it in the most vicious manner with its tail and fins, 
broke and upset it, and then disappeared. The crew, seven in 
number, got on the bottom of the boat ; but the unequal action of 
the lines, which remained entangled with the boat, rolled it over 
occasionally, and thus plunged the men repeatedly beneath the 
water. Four of them recovered themselves, and clung to the boat; 
but the other three were drowned before assistance could arrive. 

In the Arctic seas the whalers are exposed to many dangers 
from the ice. About the year 1856, Captain Deuchars, a most 
experienced navigator, in command of a fine strong vessel, the 



WONDERFUL ESCAPE OF THE "TRAFALGAR? 85 

u Princess Charlotte," lost it in Melville Bay. It was a fine morning, 
and all on board were anticipating a very successful voyage ; the 
steward had just reported breakfast ready, when the captain, seeing 
the floes of ice closing together ahead of the ship, remained on 1 
deck to see her pass safely between them ; but they closed too 
quickly — the vessel was almost through when the points of ice 
caught her sides abreast of the mizzen-mast, and passing through, 
held the wreck up for a few minutes, barely allowing time enough 
for the crew to escape and save their boats. Poor Captain Deu- 
chars thus lost his breakfast and his ship within ten minutes. 

A wonderful case of deliverance from apparently certain destruc- 
tion among the ice. is recorded of the "Trafalgar," an Arctic whale- 
ship. The account is given by Mr. Gibson, surgeon of the ship : 

" Blowing a fresh gale, with rain, the floe to which the vessel was 
made fast set down under the lee ice, so as to render our situation 
perilous. Towards midnight we became unexpectedly entangled 
among heavy pieces of ice and floes, when the ship received some 
severe blows on her beams. Finding it impossible to get out, we 
lay to, and in half an hour the ship was close beset. Though I 
retired to bed when the ship was enclosed, I expected every minute 
to be called to quit it. Soon after, a large piece of ice pressing on 
the vessel opposite my bed-cabin, broke two or three of the timbers 
with a dismal noise. Thinking all was over, I sprang out of bed, 
and found to my great consternation that the ship was under an 
enormous pressure from numerous large masses of ice surrounding 
her on all sides, without an opening of water sufficient for a boat 
within two miles ; and no other ship was in sight, although the 
weather was clear. Most of the crew were providing for shipwreck, 
and many of the people were supplicating Divine mercy for deliver- 
ance. Four days' allowance were cooked with all speed, other 
provisions were taken on deck, and everything of importance placed 
in readiness to be thrown on the ice. At noon, the man on the 
mast-head saw a ship, on which we instantly made signals of dis- 
tress. At this time a dead silence prevailed throughout the ship, 
the crew looking on one another in awful suspense. At one time 
the pressure was so strong that the panels of the captain's state- 



26 APPALLING CALAMITIES TO WHALING VESSELS. 

room were forced out of their framing. About half an hour after 
this the ship was suddenly thrown upon her larboard side, on which 
all hands sprang upon deck. I shall never forget the confusion of 
the poor men, nor their wild looks when they gained the deck — 
for half of them were below at the time of the shock, and from 
the smallness of the hatch only one could get up at a time. Some 
leaped upon the ship's side and were going upon the ice, when the 
captain cried out to them to behave like men, and to stick to the 
ship so long as she remained above water. We all stood on that 
part of the vessel nearest the ice, with our bags of clothing on our 
shoulders. For fifteen minutes we had patiently waited our doom, 
when, by the interposition of Divine Providence, the wind changed, 
the ice began to set off from the ship, and in fifteen minutes more 
she recovered her upright position. The water now rapidly spread 
among the surrounding ice, and finally the vessel was warped out 
and floated safely on the waves." 

! A fearful series of calamities befell a small squadron of six 
very fine whaling vessels in 1830, during a storm in Baffin's Bay. 
Masses of ice were driven upon them, by which they were com- 
pletely beset. The ships were ranged under the shelter of a large 
floe, having water barely sufficient to float them. Here they 
formed a line, one behind the other, standing close, stern to stern, 
and being at the same time so pressed against the ice, that in some 
places a boat-hook could with difficulty be inserted in the space. 
The sky darkened, the gale increased, the floes began to overlap 
each other, and closed upon the ships in an alarming manner. 
The sailors then attempted to saw out a sort of dock, where they 
hoped to be relieved from this severe pressure ; but soon a huge 
tioe was driven upon them with irresistible violence. The " Eliza 
Swan," of Montrose, received the first shock, and was saved only 
by the ice raising her up. It next struck the " St. Andrew," of 
Aberdeen, amidship, breaking about twenty of her timbers, and 
staving a number of casks ; but it then, fortunately, moved along 
her side, and went off by the stern. It now reached successively 
the "Baffin," of Leith; the " Achilles," of Dundee; the "Villede 
Dieppe," a French ship ; and the " Rattler/' of Leith ? and dashed 



INCIDENT RELATED BY SCO RES BY. 87 

against them with such tremendous fury, that these four noble 
vessels, which had braved for years the tempests of the Polar seas, 
were in a quarter of an hour shattered into fragments. The scene 
was awful : the grinding noise of the ice tearing open their sides, 
and the masts breaking off and falling in every direction, were added 
to the cries of two hundred sailors, leaping upon the frozen surface 
with only such portions of their clothes as they could snatch in a 
single instant. The " Rattler " is said to have become the most 
complete wreck ever known. She was literally turned inside out, 
and her stem and stern carried to the distance of a gun-shot from 
each other ; and the " Achilles " had her sides pressed together, 
her stern thrust out, and her decks and beams broken into in- 
numerable fragments. 

Scoresby, in his journal, mentions a narrow escape which he 
had while pursuing a wounded whale through the ice, equipped 
with a pair of ice-shoes (consisting simply of pieces of deal, six 
feet long, attached by the middle to the foot), his own invention 
for walking over loose ice. 

" I followed the whale on its second appearance, carrying with 
me a harpoon, and dragging a large quantity of line after me, until 
I fastened the harpoon by sticking it through the ice. Then re- 
turning for a lance, I again attacked the whale, following it as it 
retreated, and in a short time killed it. On one occasion, when I 
was waiting for its return to the surface, it happened to rise directly 
under my feet, so as to break the ice all around me, and lifted me 
up on its crown. As I must have inevitably followed it in its 
descent, had I retained my position, I slipped my feet out of the 
ice-shoes, and, at all risks, ran off to one side. Fortunately, the 
ice at that spot consisted of two or three folds, and supported my 
weight until I recovered my shoes." 

A Dutch harpooner happened to get too near a monstrous whale, 
which struck him such a violent blow with its tail that the poor 
fellow was some time before he could regain his breath. The 
men of another boat harassed the animal in their turn, and at 
length the boat was upset. All saved themselves with difficulty 
\>y swimming, and hiding their heads under the water as long as 



88 RISKS ATTENDING "CUTTING UP" WHALES, 

they could. The cold was intense, and they were picked up all 
trembling ; their hair was frozen, and they had a cap of ice on 
their heads. The greatest danger in such a case is sleep, which 
is the twin brother of death. They were obliged to be watched, 
and kept awake in spite of themselves. After some time they 
were allowed to sleep for aij hour, "and were then aroused with 
considerable difficulty. Without these precautions, men who have 
been long exposed to cold would not wake again. 

The perils incurred in the pursuit of the whale do not always 
end with its capture. The operation of "flensing" or cutting up 
the animal, to which I alluded in the last chapter, is sometimes 
attended with danger. In a heavy sea, the men occupied in this 
disagreeable duty are liable to be washed over, or to be thrown 
into the monster's mouth at the risk of being suffocated. Occa- 
sionally they have their ropes broken, and are wounded by each 
other's knives. Scoresby mentions an instance of a man who, 
after the flensing was completed, happened to have his foot at- 
tached by a hook to the carcase, when it was inadvertently let go. 
He caught hold of the gunwale of the boat ; but the whole im- 
mense mass was now suspended by his body, occasioning the most 
excruciating torture, and even exposing him to the risk of being 
torn asunder, when his companions contrived to hook afresh the 
carcase with a grapnel, and brought it back to the surface. 

Such are some of the perils which have been related by the 
hardy travellers of the ocean whose years have been spent in con- 
tinued struggles, not only with the element, 

" Boundless, endless, and sublime, 
The image of eternity, — " 

but with the huge monarch of the waters, whose reign has been 
disputed by a greater power in creation, who "sees all things foi 
his use," 

"Thou little knowest 
What he can brave, who, born and nurst 
Jn Danger's paths, has dared her worst I ,? 




/~%&i /V ~^' ~i L * 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PIRATE OF THE OCEAN. 

" Blood and rapine, death and slaughter 
Crown thee, tyrant of the water ; 
Scourge of all that dwells in ocean; 
Thrilling men with deep emotion, 
Even the boldest, those whom battle 
Blanches not with murderous rattle ; 
But whom, superstition-nursed, 
Regard thee as a fiend accursed, 
An omen of impending peril, 
Of shadows dark with doubt and evil." 




MAGINE, my young readers, a Shark seventy feet long, 
with a tooth four inches and a half in the enamel, or the 
part visible above the socket, jaws with the bow above 
thirteen feet, and a mouth capable of gaping more than twenty-six 
feet around ! This was one of the species of fossil sharks, an ante- 
diluvian animal, which has been discovered in the limestone rocks, 
the teeth and the vertebrae (small bones or joints composing the 
spine or back-bone) enabling the geologist to determine the species 
to which the animal belongs. 

A tooth, the size of that I have mentioned, was shown to the 
distinguished French naturalist, Lacepede, and, in order to discover 
the proportions of the animal to which it belonged, he measured 
first the teeth, and next the stuffed specimens of all the sharks 
preserved in the Museum of Natural History in Paris ? and he found 



go INDISCRIMINATE APPETITE OF THE SHARK. 

in every instance that the relative proportions they bore to each 
other was as one to two hundred, and he was thus enabled to 
ascertain the prodigious size and capacity of this formidable ante- 
diluvian animal. ! 
Although the sharks of our own time are not of the same 
monstrous proportions, they are, from their immense strength 
and voracity, the objects of dread to those who behold them in 
their native element. 

" The type of horror and remorseless hate, 

Of villany the worst. " 

The White Shark in particular, one of the largest of the tribe, 
and frequently weighing as much as a thousand pounds, some- 
times measuring from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, abounding 
in warm latitudes, and attacking everything in his reach, deserves 
the title given to him of " the pirate of the ocean." When I tell 
you that a lady's work-box has been found in the stomach of one 
of these sharks, and the papers of a ship that had been thrown 
overboard ; that the baskets, shavings, cordage, ducks, hens, and 
buffalo-hides, &c, which had been thrown into the sea one morning 
from Captain Hall's ship, the " Alceste," were found in the body 
of a captured monster shortly afterwards ; that in another was 
discovered a tin canister, which, on being opened, was found to be 
nearly filled with old coins, you will have some idea of his indis- 
criminate appetite. He will devour even those of his own species. 
An anecdote is related of a Laplander capturing a shark, and 
fastening it to his canoe : he soon missed it, however, without an 
idea of how it had happened. A short time afterwards he took 
another shark of much larger size, in which, when opened, he 
found the shark he had lost. An officer states (we read in the 
" United Service Journal ") that when some midshipmen had caught 
a shark, they pulled him up in their boat, cut open his stomach, 
and then sent him back into the water. His body was instantly 
attacked by the sharks nearest to him, and was torn in pieces. The 
experiment was repeated with the same result. 

The tenacity of life in the shark family is something extraorf 1 



PREFERENCE FOR HUMAN FOOD. 01 



nary. The fish has been known to be active for many hours in the 
sea after its head has been taken off. Instances have been known 
of a shark having taken a bait in the depth of the sea, after its 
liver had been cut out for the purpose of extracting oil, and also 
when the whole of the entrails had been removed. 

But a far worse character attaches itself to the shark, which is, 
his preference for human flesh : of all other food, it is this which 
he most prizes, and numbers of persons fall victims to his voracity 
in the seas he frequents. It is terrible to think of such a fate, for 
the huge monster' is not only capable of snapping off a limb in a 
moment, or biting a person in two, but has been known to swallow 
a man alive. It is also stated on good authority that a shark was 
taken off the island of St. Margaret, which weighed fifteen hundred 
pounds, and the stomach was found to contain the whole body of 
a horse, which had probably been thrown overboard from some 
ship. 

In the "Illustrated London News" (14th of April, i860), the 
following horrible tragedy is related : " As the ship ' Karnak ' was 
leaving the port of Nassau, a pilot fell overboard from her boat, in 
which he was being towed. The ship was stopped, and the boat 
instantly left for his rescue, while two life-buoys were thrown from 
the ship. Hie boat got close enough to give him the end of an 
oar, which he took, and cried, ' For God's sake save me ! ' The 
men were about to haul him into the boat, when he was carried 
down by a large shark which came up at the moment, taking the 
oar with him. 

A few days after the fatal accident, a shark was captured in 
Nassau harbour, and on being opened, the pilot's right hand and 
wrist, with a portion of his shirt (by which the hand was identified), 
a goat's head, with horns nine inches long, and a turtle's head were 
found in his stomach." 

The French name this fearful animal the Requin, or Requiem 
(the rest or stillness of death), in allusion to the deadly character 
of his habits : to add to the horror of his appearance, a phosphoric 
light is emitted from his huge body when near the surface of 
the water. To get at human flesh, the shark has been known to 



92 THE VULNERABLE PART OF THE SHARK. 

bound several feet out of the sea, and seize the unwary sailor 
occupied in the rigging of the vessel when in full sail, and to leap 
into fishing-boats, and grapple with the men at their oars. You 
have, no doubt, read of the cruelties inflicted during the Slave 
Trade on the unhappy negroes who were forced from their country 
on board ship, and subjected to the most shameful treatment. It 
was frequently the practice of the captains and crews of these vessels 
to suspend a dead negro from the bowsprit, in order to watch the 
efforts of the shark to reach him, and this was accomplished at a 
height of several feet above the level of the sea. 

" Increasing still the terrors of the storms, 
His jaws horrific, armed with threefold fate, 
Here dwells the direful shark. Lured by the scent 
Of steaming crowds, of rank disease, and death, 
Behold ! he, rushing, cuts the briny flood, 
Swift as a gale can bear the ship along ; 
And from the partners of that cruel trade 
"Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons, 
Demands his share of prey— demands themselves. 
The stormy fates descend ;— one death involves 
Tyrants and slaves, when straight their mangled limbf 
Crushing at once, he dyes the purple seas 
With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal." 

No wonder that every man's hand should be raised against this 
ferocious monster; and although of such fearful strength and 
audacity, he is sometimes overcome. The natives on the African 
coast show great courage and dexterity in attacking him. The 
mouth of the shark being placed in the lower part of the head, he 
is obliged, in order to seize his prey, to turn round in the water, 
and the negroes, taking advantage of this, thrust a knife into his 
stomach, the part where he is most vulnerable, for the skin on the 
upper portion of the body is so hard and rough that it forms a 
kind of armour, defending him from the bites of any animals he 
may encounter in the deep. This skin is even made use of by 
joiners for polishing hard-grained wood, and it is also employed 
for other purposes where hardness and strength are required. 

An amusing instance of punishing a shark for his greediness was 



"PUNISHING* ONE OF THE OCEAN PIRATES. 93 

related in the " Edinburgh Observer," some years ago. The author 
of the article says : 

" Looking over the bulwarks of the schooner, I saw one of these 
watchful monsters winding lazily backwards and forwards like a 
long meteor ; sometimes rising until his nose disturbed the surface, 
and a gushing sound like a deep breath rose through the breakers; 
at others resting motionless on the water, as if listening to our voices 
and thirsting for our blood. As we were watching the motions of 
this monster, Bruce, a lively little negro and my cook, suggested 
the possibility of destroying it. This was, briefly, to heat a fire- 
brick in the stove, wrap it up hastily in some old greasy cloth as 
a sort of disguise, and then to heave it overboard. This was the 
work of a few minutes, and the effect was triumphant. The monster 
followed after the hissing prey ; we saw it dart at the brick like a 
flash of lightning, and gorge it instanter. The shark rose to the 
surface almost immediately, and his uneasy motions soon betrayed 
the success of the manoeuvre. His agonies became terrible : the 
waters appeared as if disturbed by a violent squall, and the spray 
was driven over the taffrail where we stood., while the gleaming 
body of the fish repeatedly burst through the dark waves, as if 
writhing with fierce and terrible convulsions. Sometimes, also, 
we thought we heard a shrill, bellowing cry, as if indicative of 
anguish and rage, rising through the gurgling waters. His fury was, 
however, soon exhausted ; in a short time the sounds broke away 
into distance, and the agitation of the sea subsided. The shark 
had given himself up to the tides, as unable to struggle against the 
approach of death, and they were carrying his body unresistingly 
to the beach." 

In the South Sea Islands sharks are caught by means of a log 
of wood, set afloat with a strong rope attached to it, having a noose 
at the head. The fish, with his natural impetuosity, gets his head 
entangled, and floundering about in attempts to escape, becomes 
tired out, and is then easily dispatched. 

Captain Basil Hall gives, in his "Voyages and Travels," an 
interesting account of the capture of one of these huge monsters. 
He says : 



§4 "BAITING* THE SHARft. 

" The sharp, curved dorsal (the back) fin of an enormous shark 
was seen rising about six inches above the water, and cutting the 
glazed surface of the sea by as fine a line as if a sickle had been 
drawn along it. 6 Messenger, run to the cook for a piece of pork,' 
cried the captain, taking the command with as much glee as if an 
enemy's cruiser had been in sight. ' Where 's your hook, quarter- 
master ? ' ' Here, sir, here ! ' cried the fellow, feeling the point, 
and declaring it was as sharp as any lady's needle ; and at the 1 
next instant piercing with it a huge junk of pork, weighing four or 
five pounds. The hook, which is as large as a little finger, has a 1 
curvature about as large as a man's hand when half closed, and is It 
six or eight inches in length, while a formidable line, furnished with I 
three or four feet of chain attached to the end of the mizzen-top- | 
sail-halyard, is now cast into the ship's wake. 

" Sometimes the very instant the bait is cast over the stern, the 
shark flies at it with such eagerness that he actually springs par- 
tially out of the water. This, however, is rare. On these occasions 
he gorges the hait» the hook, and a foot or two of the chain, with- 
out any mastication, and darts off with the treacherous prize with 
such prodigious velocity that it makes the rope crack again as soon 
as the coil is drawn out. Much dexterity is required in the hand 
which holds the line at this moment. A bungler is apt to be too 
precipitate, and jerk away the hook before it has got far enough 
into the shark's maw. The secret of the sport is to let the mon- 
ster gulp down the whole bait, and then to give the line a violent 
pull, by which the barbed point buries itself in the coat of the 
stomach. When the hook is first fixed, it spins out like the log- 
line of a ship going twelve knots. 

"The suddenness of the jerk with which the poor devil is 
brought up often turns him quite over. No sailor, however, thinks 
of fiauling a shark on board merely* by the rope fastened to the 
hook. To prevent the line breaking, the hook snapping, or the 
jaw being torn away, a running bowline is adopted. This noose 
is slipped down the rope, and passed over the monster's head, and 
is made to join at the point of junction of the tail with the body; 
and now the firsi part of the fun is held to be completed. The 



EXTRAORDINARY STRENGTH OP THE TEETH, 9$ 

vanquished enemy is easily drawn up over the taffrail, and flung 
on deck, to the delight of the crew." 

A sight of this voracious monster in his own element is never 
to be forgotten. It has been observed that the word " villain " 
has never been written in more unmistakable characters on any 
living creature than the shark. His appearance exhibits every 
character of ferocity. The head is large; the mouth wide and 
grasping ; but the teeth, the most appalling features of the animal, 
are remarkable for their power of mischief: there are six rows in 
the upper jaw, and four in the lower; the teeth are triangular, 
sometimes two inches in breadth, sharp-edged, and notched like a 
saw, and as they are so planted in the jaw that each tooth is ca- 
pable of independent action, being furnished with its own muscles, 
and as the strength of the jaws is enormous, they form a most 
terrific and formidable apparatus of destruction. 

Although no part of the shark is wholesome for food, the flesh 
being coarse and leathery, yet it is eaten by the natives of Guinea, 
after being kept a sufficient time to render it tender. The fins 
being gelatinous, are used by the Chinese for making a rich soup.. 
The liver yields an abundance of oil which is much esteemed. I 
have already mentioned the uses to which the skin is applied. 

You will be shocked to hear that on some parts of the African 
coasts there are human beings so depraved and superstitious as 
to worship this fearful monster, and who believe that a person 
swallowed by him is sure to go to heaven. Their mode of adora- 
tion is thus : The negroes proceed in their boats to offer sacrifices 
of goats, poultry, and other things. But far more horrible still is 
the offering of an infant, reared for the purpose until it attains the 
age of ten. The poor child is bound to a post on a sandy point 
at low water ; as the tide rises the sharks arrive, and the infant 
is devoured, the parents fully believing that it will thus enter Para- 
dise. We may well ask ourselves if it is possible to find a more 
atrocious and dismal proof of human depravity ! 

6 i Oh, sad estate 
Of human wretchedness ! So weak is ro#n«~« 
So ignorant and blind!" — - 



g6 WORSHIP OP SHARKS IN POLYNESIA. 

The South Sea Islanders had some strange superstitious ideas 
relative to some of the shark species. Although they would not only 
kill, but eat certain sharks, the large blue kind {Squalus glaucus) 
were deified by them ; and rather than attempt to destroy them, 
they would endeavour to propitiate their favour by prayers and 
offerings. Temples, we are informed by Mr. Ellis, in his " Poly- 
nesian Researches," were erected, in which priests officiated, and 
offerings were presented to the deified monsters ; while fishermen 
and others, who were much at sea, sought their favour. Many 
funny legends were formerly in circulation among the people re- 
lative to the regard paid by the sharks at sea to priests of their 
temples, whom they were always said to recognize, and never to 
injure. But for the sharks, the South Sea Islanders would be in 
comparatively little danger from casualties in their voyages among 
the islands ; and although, when armed, they have been known to 
attack a shark in the water, yet, when destitute of a knife or other 
weapon, they become an easy prey, and are consequently much 
terrified at such merciless antagonists. 

Mr. Ellis relates a fearful instance of the rapacity of the shark, 
when a number of chiefs and people — altogether thirty-two — were 
passing from one island to another in a large double canoe. They 
were overtaken by a tempest, the violence of which tore theii 
canoes from the horizontal spars by which they were united. It 
was in vain for them to endeavour to place them upright, or empty 
out the water, for they could not prevent their incessant overturning. 
As their only resource, they collected the scattered spars and boards, 
and constructed a raft on which they hoped to drift to land. The 
weight of the whole number who were now collected on the raft 
was so great as to sink it so far below the surface that they some- 
times stood above their knees in water. They made very little 
progress, and soon became exhausted by fatigue and hunger. In 
this condition they were attacked by a number of sharks. Destitute 
of a knife or any other weapon of defence, they fell an easy prey 
to these monsters. One after another was seized and devoured or 
carried away by them, and the survivors, who with dreadful anguish 
beheld their companions thus destroyed, saw the number of assail- 



HOOKS FOR SHARK FISHING. 97 

ants apparently increasing as each body was carried away, until 
only two or three remained. The raft, thus lightened of its load, 
rose to the surface of the water, and placed them beyond the reach 
of the voracious jaws of their relentless destroyers. The voyage 
on which they had set out was only from one of the Society Islands 
to another, consequently they were not very far from land. The 
tide and the current now carried them to the shore, where they 
landed, to tell the melancholy fate of their fellow-voyagers. 

The natives of Tahiti use hooks made of wood, and of the most 
formidable character, for shark fishing. These are a foot in length' 1 
and an inch in diameter. They are such frightful implements that 
no fish less voracious than a shark would venture to approach 
them. In some, the marks of the sharks' teeth are numerous and 
deep, and show the effect with which they have been used. 

One of the most sad and thrilling episodes of shark encounters 
that I have read was published some years since in a work called 
" Ward's Miscellany." A small schooner called the "•Magpie" 
was cruising between the island of Cuba and the Havannah, in 
search of pirates. One evening the sea and the air were so calm 
that the vessel lay on the bosom of the water like a huge animal 
asleep, with her head towards the shore. The crew were engaged 
in telling those marvellous stories which seamen believe, and never 
fail to narrate to each other in their hours of idleness, for such 
occasionally visit even the mariner afloat. Lieutenant Smith, the 
commander, who had been on the look-out for the pirate ship as 
long as twilight enabled him to do so, laid aside his glass and 
descended into the cabin. All above, below, and around was 
now lulled as in slumber, for the laugh and the voice of the story- 
teller had become silent. Presently the mate of the watch observed 
a small black cloud resting over the land. The cloud was gradu- 
ally increasing, and although the mate saw no ground to apprehend 
danger, he thought it right to communicate the fact to his superior 
officer, believing that the land breeze was about to set in with 
unusual strength. Mr. Smith commanded him to keep a sharp 
look out, and he would join him on deck immediately. A moment 
after, a squall, as strong as it was sudden, burst from the cloud, 

7 



98 ATTACK OF SHARKS ON A BOAT. 

and just as Mr. Smith had ascended to the deck, the schooner was 
upset, and immediately sank. 

Two of the crew were below, and they went down with her; the 
others, twenty-two in number, were left struggling with the quiet 
deep, for the squall had passed, and the sky and sea were again 
tranquil. It was now discovered that the boat had drifted from 
the vessel, and floated. A rush was made towards her, and several 
of the men attempted to get into her on the same side. The con- 
sequence was, that she became half full of water, upset, rolled over 
and over, and at length lay with her keel upwards. Some got 
across her keel, others supported themselves by holding on to her 
with their hands, and thus all were for a time safe. 

Mr. Smith now reminded the crew that it was impossible for 
them to remain long in this predicament, and exhorted them to 
right the boat and bale the water from her. He was immediately 
attended to ; the men on the keel relinquished their seats, the boat 
was turned over, and two men were ordered into her to bale out 
the water. This they commenced doing with their hats, and it 
seemed probable that by perseverance their task would be accom- 
plished. At this moment a man called out that he saw the fin of 
a shark. Immediately all was confusion ; every one endeavoured 
to save himself, and in so doing rushed into needless danger. 
Smith begged them to persevere in attempting to clear the boat 
of water, and directed those not engaged in baling the water to 
keep splashing with their legs to frighten away the sharks. Again 
he was attended to ; four men were in the boat baling, and the 
water was rapidly decreasing, when a noise was heard, and more 
than a dozen sharks darted in amongst them. In the panic which 
ensued the boat was again upset, and the men were at the mercy 
of the marine monsters. At first the sharks played about amongst 
the men, occasionally rubbing against them ; but presently a loud 
shriek arose from one of them — his leg was bitten from his body ! 
The attack was now general; shrieks arose from one and another. 
Some were torn from the boat, and several sank into the abyss, 
either through being bitten or from fear. 

In this critical moment Lieutenant Smith was not dismayed, 



Horrible fate of some seamen. 99 

He still gave orders to the crew firmly and coolly, and was still 
obeyed by them. The boat was again righted, and the baling 
again commenced, Smith clinging to the stern while he directed 
and encouraged his crew. For a moment he ceased to splash, 
while he looked into the boat to see what progress his men were 
making. At this instant a shark bit off both his legs above the 
knees. With fortitude scarcely to be believed, he endeavoured to 
conceal the fact from his remaining crew, but, in spite of all his 
efforts to suppress it, a deep groan escaped him; he loosed his 
hold of the boat and was about to sink, when two of his men 
caught hold of him and placed him in the stern-sheets. Although 
bleeding and in agony, he still exerted himself for his crew. He 
expressed his sorrow for their situation, gave them advice affection- 
ately, yet coolly, and ended with these words : " If any of you 
survive this fatal night, and return to Jamaica, tell the admiral 
(Sir Laurence Halsted) that I was in search of the pirate when this 
lamentable occurrence took place; tell him that I hope I have 

always done my duty, and that I " At this instant some of 

the men endeavoured to get into the boat, which was thus drawn 
on one side, and Lieutenant Smith rolled overboard, and sank to 
rise no more. The boat was now again upset. Some of the 
bleeding seamen placed themselves on the keel, but one by one 
dropped into the ocean. It was at eight o'clock when the " Mag- 
pie " sank, and before nine all on board of her were eaten by the 
sharks or drowned, with the exception of two, who succeeded in 
righting the boat and getting into her. They immediately began 
baling, and worked until they were nearly exhausted. The sharks 
swam round the boat, and endeavoured to upset her, but failing, 
and perhaps gorged already, at length departed. The men worked 
at intervals, until the boat was nearly free from water, and then 
lay down and slept until after daylight. The morning was fine 
but sultry. The men were hungry, thirsty, and fatigued : they 
looked around them; an unbroken ocean, a cloudless sky, and a 
burning sun were all that were within their view. They began to 
think of the only resource remaining for either — to kill his com- 
rade and devour his flesh. They were men of equal strength, and 

7—2 



ido PERILOUS CONDITIO^ OF THE SURVIVORS. 

both had knives. Each, however, seemed unwilling to resort to this 
horrible expedient except in the last extremity. The man at the 
stern (for they had separated from each other, in mutual apprehen- 
sion, by nearly the whole length of the keel) knelt down and 
prayed, and his comrade followed his example. 

As the morning went on they suffered intensely from thirst, and 
aggravated their sufferings by attempting to allay it with salt water. 
The madness of despair was beginning to develop itself in one of 
them when a sail appeared in sight, which afterwards proved to be 
a brig steering towards them. One flung his jacket in the air, 
while the other hailed again and again, and sometimes both hailed 
together, although the brig was at such a distance that it was not 
possible their cries would be heard. She approached nearer and 
nearer, and so rivetted were their minds on the brig that hunger 
and thirst were forgotten in the excitement of hope. The people 
on board the ship appeared to notice them, but just as they had 
reason to think that such was the case, she changed her course 
and hoisted additional sail. Still they attempted to gain their 
attention, and attempted to propel the boat with their hands ; but 
all was in vain ; the ship was becoming every moment more distant, 
and their chance of release from such a horrible condition, of 
course, fainter. 

At this moment one of the sailors conceived the bold project of 
swimming to the brig, which was by this time two miles and a half 
from them. His comrade remonstrated with him, so wild and 
hopeless did the undertaking appear to him, especially as the fins 
of sharks were seen again here and there above the water. After 
a little hesitation, caused by the appeal of his shipmate, and a short 
prayer, he jumped over. The splash occasioned by his doing so 
caused the sharks to disappear, and the man in the boat well knew 
that they were in search of his comrade. Immediately afterwards, 
three of them passed the boat towards him. 

With the greatest anxiety the sailor in the boat watched his 
messmate : he swam well, kicking and splashing as he went, to 
frighten the sharks. Once he beheld one of them close to him ; 
but he only swam the faster, and kicked more vigorously. The 



THE SHARK FAMILY. 101 

wind had freshened, the brig was sailing more fleetly, his cries 
were unheard by the crew, and he began to think he must yield 
himself a prey to the sharks. At last he saw a man look over the 
side of the vessel; he held up both his hands, jumped up in the 
water, and was at length seen. A boat was got out, the brave 
swimmer was picked up, and was soon joined by his comrade on 
board the brig. The sharks were defrauded of their prey. The 
two survivors of the " Magpie " were tried by a court-martial, and 
as a reward for their perseverance, industry, and obedience to their 
commander in circumstances of such peculiar peril, promoted to 
be warrant officers. 

To this family of the Squalidce, or Sharks, belongs the Blue 
species, to which I have alluded, and which visits our own coasts 
during the pilchard and herring fishery, but whose chief residence 
is the Mediterranean. It is about seven feet long. The whole of 
the upper parts is of a slate-blue colour, and the under side nearly 
pure white. 

The Hammer-headed species are distinguished, as the name 
implies, from each side of the head being extended — hammer- 
shaped — into a kind of branch, which has the eyes at the outer 
extremity. Its habits are of the family character, and it never 
hesitates to attack man when an opportunity offers. The Smooth 
Shark is so named from the smoothness and softer nature of its 
skin than its other relations ; it is about four feet in length, and 
is a frequent visitor to the British seas. The Dog-Fish, the most 
common of the minor members of the shark family, will be found 
noticed in a subsequent chapter on " Fishing." The Spinous Shark, 
so named from its " prickles," which resemble those on the stems 
of a rose-bush, is not, happily, a frequent visitant to British waters, 
though of inferior size to most of the family, being from four to 
eight feet. The Angel-Fish, or Monk-Fish, or Shark-Ray, closes our 
list of the " ocean pirates." The depressed form, rounded head, 
with the eyes on the upper surface, and the singularly expansive 
pectoral fins (which may, under the imaginative form of wings, have 
originated the designation of "angel") distinguish this strange, 



102 THE GREENLAND SHARK. 

and, on the whole, uncouth fish, which partakes something of the 
character of the ray and the shark. It is not unfrequent on our 
coasts, and attains a considerable size, some weighing a hundred- 
weight. It is a fierce and dangerous fish to contend with, and 
fishermen tell strange stories of its strength and fury. 

The Greenland Shark, which abounds in the Northern seas, 
although smaller than his powerful relative, being usually about 
fourteen feet long and six to eight feet in girth, partakes of his 
ferocity, and is a fearful enemy to the whale, whom he frequently 
worries to death, and feasts upon afterwards, scooping out pieces 
from his body as large as a man's head. The blubber appears to 
be a peculiarly u dainty dish " to this Arctic monster, and while the 
crew of a ship are employed in cutting up a whale, he will come in 
for his share, and is so greedy for his favourite food that the men 
consider themselves safe from his gripe. Insensible to pain and 
tenacious of life as are all the larger sharks, the Arctic member of 
this ferocious tribe has been proved to be so in a remarkable degree. 
A few ugly wounds do not spoil his appetite, and even when pierced 
through the body with a sailor's knife, he does not desert the whale's 
carcase until his appetite is fully satisfied. Even when the body is 
cut into parts, the separate portions continue to show signs of life 
for some time, arid it is unsafe to put the hand into his mouth a 
good while after the head has been separated from the trunk. 

The Greenlanders eat the flesh of this fish both fresh and dried, 
and twist his rough skin into a kind of rope. This shark is known 
to have seized a native canoe covered with seal-skin (which was 
probably the attraction) in his mouth from beneath, and by closing 
his jaws, destroyed both the canoe and its inmate. 

The largest of this terrible tribe, the Basking Shark, visits our 
seas occasionally, though most abundant in the tropics. He has 
been seen off the coast of Scotland, and taken, from his enormous 
length, for the " sea-serpent," attaining upwards of fifty feet. One 
of this size was captured some years ago at Kuraci, at the mouth 
of the Indus. Happily, however, his voracity is not proportioned 
to his size, being satisfied chiefly with sea-slugs, small fishes, jelly- 



THE PILOT-FISH. 103 



fish, &c. Pennant mentions a basking shark twenty-six feet in 
length, taken off Anglesea, from which one hundred and fifty-six 
gallons of oil were obtained. 

You have, no doubt, often heard of the pilot-fish as a guide and 
companion to the shark in his pursuit of prey. Whether this pretty . 
fish, which is only about a foot in length, really does befriend and 
assist the ocean monster is not quite certain, but some accounts give 
an air of probability to the belief. Stevens, one of the first voyagers 
to the East Indies (1579 — 1583), alludes to this circumstance in a 
fanciful manner. Describing the sharks, he says : " These have 
waiting on them six or seven small fishes, which never depart, with 
guards (bands), blue and green, round their bodies, like comely 
serving-men, and they go two or three before them, and some on 
every side." Dr. Mayen remarks : "We ourselves have seen three 
instances in which the shark was led by the pilot. When the 
former neared the ship, the latter swam close to his snout or near 
one of his breast-fins; sometimes it darted rapidly forwards or side- 
ways, as if looking for something, and constantly went back again 
to the shark. When we threw overboard a piece of bacon fastened 
on a great hook, the shark was about twenty paces from the ship. 
With the quickness of lightning the pilot came up, smelt at the 
dainty morsel, and instantly swam back again to the shark, swim- 
ming many times around his snout and splashing, as if to give him 
exact information as to the bacon. The shark now began to put 
himself in motion, the pilot showing him the way, and in a moment 
he was fast to the hook." 

Dr. Bennett, in his " Gatherings of a Naturalist," says : " I have 
observed that if several sharks swim together, the pilot-fishes are 
generally absent ; whereas, on a solitary shark being seen, it is 
equally rare to find it unaccompanied by one or more of these 
reputed guides. The only method by which I could procure this 
fish was, that when capturing a shark, I was aware these faithful 
little fishes would not forsake him until he was taken aboard; there- 
fore, by keeping the shark, when hooked, in the water until he was 
exhausted, or, as the sailors term it, " drowned," the pilot-fish kept 
close to the surface of the water over the shark, and, by the aid qi 



104 SHARKS, THE SCAVENGERS OF THE OCEAN. 

a dipping-net fixed to the end of a long stick, I was enabled to 
secure it with great facility. n ; 

The pilot-fish, like the mackerel in shape, has five conspicuous 
tranverse bands round the body, and the general colour is a silvery 
greyish-blue. It is common in the Mediterranean and abounds in 
the warmer parts of the ocean. 

The ancients gave to the whales the benefit of its services. 
Oppian says : 

" Bold in the front the little pilot glides, 
Averts each danger, every motion guides; 
With grateful joy the willing whales attend, 
Observe the leader, and revere the friend ; 
True to the little chief, obsequious roll, 
And soothe in friendship's charms their savage soul." 

Making a pet of a shark seems a monstrous idea, but such was 
really the case some years ago with one of these animals which 
frequented Port Royal harbour, in Jamaica. It was called " Old 
Tom of Port Royal," and was fed whenever it approached the 
ships, but was at length killed by the father of a child which it had 
devoured. Whilst the shark frequented the port no other fish of 
his tribe dared to intrude on his domain, where he reigned lord 
paramount in his watery empire, and had not been known to com- 
mit any depredation, except the one for which he suffered. 

I think we may consider this as a rather questionable proof as to 
what lengths the shark may be trusted for domestication ; but we 
must also look upon this animal with a deprecatory indulgence, for 
even in its voracity it is fulfilling a wise law of Nature; in fact, it 
is the "scavenger of the ocean," as well as the "pirate." Nothing 
seems to be rejected by these creatures: offal of the most offensive 
kind, living as well as dead matter, is greedily swallowed by them. 
In this manner they are purifiers of the ocean, and, as the Rev. 
William Kirby observes, they exercise the same functions that the 
hyaenas and vultures and other animals do on earth. 

" Another lesson," says the same reverend instructor, " may be 
learned from the existence of these terrible monsters; for if God 
fitted them to devour. He fitted them to instruct The existence 



SHARKS, THE SCAVENGERS GE THE OCEAN. 105 



of creatures so evil, and such relentless destroyers of His works in 
the material world, teach us that there are probably analogous 
beings in the spiritual world; and what occasion we have for watch- 
fulness to escape their destructive fury ! M 






CHAPTER IX. 

SEA-HORSES, NARWAHLS, AND POLAR BEARS. 

"There we hunted the walrus, the narwahl, and the seal, 
Aha ! 't was a noble game ! 
And like the lightning's flame 
Flew our harpoons of steel ! " 

Longfellow. 

||LL the shores and borders of the Arctic zone are crowded 
with amphibious animals, which appear to form an inter- 
mediate link between whales and quadrupeds. Among 
these I will now notice the Morse (derived from the Russian morss) 
or Walrus (from the Norwegian hval-ros, whale-horse), also called 
by sailors the Sea-Horse. It is a large, shapeless, unwieldy crea- 
ture, from twelve to fifteen feet in length and eight to ten feet in 
circumference; the head small, the limbs short, and of an inter- 
mediate character between fins and legs. The eyes are small and 
brilliant; the nostrils are large, somewhat round, and placed on 
the upper part of the snout or muzzle. The lips are remarkably 
thick and covered with bristles. The neck is short. The insides 
of the paws are protected by a rough horny kind of coating, of a 
quarter of an inch thick; the fore-paws, or webbed hands, are 
from two to three feet in length, and, being expansive, can be 
stretched to a considerable width. The colour varies with age ; 
the young are black, they then become brown, and gradually pale, 
until in old age the walrus is white. The hairs, thick as a crow- 
quill, together with the long white tusks and fierce-looking eyes. 



THE WALRUS. _ 107 



give the animal a most diabolic look as it raises its head above 
the waves. Previous to the development of the tusks in the young 
walrus, the front face, when seen at a little distance, bears a striking 
resemblance to the human countenance ; and this appearance seems 
to have given rise to the fanciful reports of mermen, or mermaids, 
in the Northern seas. Captain Scoresby mentions that he has seen 
a sea-horse in such a position and under such circumstances that 
it was easy to mistake it for a human being. The surgeon of his 
ship actually reported to him that he had seen a man's head just 
appearing above water ! 

The most remarkable feature of the walrus consists in the two 
teeth or tusks, which are directed downwards from the upper jaw, 
and are sometimes nearly two feet in length, diverging at their 
points, and weighing from five to ten pounds. They are of beauti 
ful white bone, almost equal to ivory, and are much employed in 
the fabrication of teeth, chessmen, umbrella-handles, whistles, and 
other small articles. The Greenlanders and other people of the 
North make hunting weapons from them, and domestic tools. 
These tusks not only serve the animal in procuring its food — 
which is said to be shell-fish and marine vegetables — but are for- 
midable weapons against its foes. They also enable the walrus to 
raise its unwieldy bulk upon the ice, when its access to shore is 
prevented. 

The speed of this animal in the water is very great, and a con- 
trast to its sluggish appearance on the ice. Large numbers of 
them crowd together on shore, and present a curious spectacle. 
The moment the first lands, so as to be dry, it will not stir until 
another comes, and urges it forward by beating it with its great 
tusks ; this one is served in the same manner by the next, and so 
on in succession, until the whole are landed, tumbling over one 
another in the operation. 

In the voyages of the early navigators in the Arctic seas, they 
found the walrus, hitherto a partially unmolested animal, easy of 
capture. In 1606, Stephen Bennet, the captain of the "God-speed," 
a vessel of sixty tons, writes : " We saw a huge morse putting his 
head above water, making such a horrible noise and roaring, that 



io8. COOK'S ADVENTURES WITH THE WALRUS, 



they in the boat thought he would have sunk it." In another} 
place they found " a multitude of these monsters of the sea lying: 
like hogs upon an heap." They shot at them in vain until their 
muskets were spoilt and their powder was spent, when " we would 
blow their eyes out with a little pease-shot, and then come on the 
blind side of them, and with our carpenter's axe cleave their heads ; 
but for all that we could do, of about a thousand were killed but 
fifteen." They filled a hogshead with the loose teeth found on 
the island. The navigators became more expert in their cruel 
onslaught upon the poor animals, for in a subsequent voyage the 
same captain relates that in six hours they slew from seven hundred 
to eight hundred, not only for the sake of the teeth, but boiling 
the blubber into oil. They also contrived to get on board two 
young walruses, male and female ; the latter died on the passage, 
but the other reached England, and was taken to Court, " where 
the King and many honourable personages beheld it with admira- j 
tion." It soon, however, fell sick and died. 

Captain Cook, who was among the first to give anything like a 
distinct account of this curious animal, relates in one of his voyages : 
" We got entangled with the edge of the ice, on which lay an 
innumerable multitude of sea-horses. They were lying in herds, 
huddled one over the other like swine, and were roaring and 
braying very loud, so that in the night, or in foggy weather, they 
gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice before we could see it. 
They were seldom in a hurry to get away until after they had been 
fired at, when they would tumble over each other into the sea in 
the utmost confusion. Vast numbers of them would follow us, 
and come close up to the boats, but the flash of a musket in the 
pan, or even the bare pointing of one, would send them down in 
an instant." In another part, Cook mentions the wanness of the 
animals: "We never found the whole herd asleep, one being 
always on the watch. This, on the approach of a boat, would 
rouse the next, and the alarm being gradually communicated, the 
whole herd would speedily awake." 

The walrus is hunted chiefly for its oil and tusks ; the natives of 
the northern shores esteem its flesh highly, and it is greedily eaten 



AFFECTION OF THE WALRUS FOR ITS YOUNG, tog 

along with the lard and even the skin. Mr. Lamont calculates 
that about a thousand walruses are captured yearly in the seas 
about Spitzbergen, exclusive of the number which sink or die of 
their wounds. 

Though generally of a peaceful and harmless nature, yet when 
attacked by foes, and especially by man, these huge animals will 
defend and support each other with remarkable courage and 
fidelity, fearlessly proceeding to the rescue of an unfortunate asso- 
ciate, and striving even to death for its deliverance. As early as 
,1671, Martens, in his " Voyage to Greenland/' relates having killed 
some sea-horses on the ice ; " the rest came all about our boat, 
and beat holes through the sides of it so that we took in abundance of 
water, and were forced at length to row away because of their great 
numbers, for they gathered themselves more and more together, 
and pursued us, as long as we could perceive them, very furiously." 

Parry records a similar incident in his Arctic voyage in the- " Fury" 
s and " Hecla." A boat's crew proceeded to attack two hundred of 
these animals, but they made a most desperate resistance ; some 
of them with their cubs on their backs ; and one of them tore open 
the planks of the boat in two or three places. 

Captain Phipps (afterwards Lord Mulgrave) in his expedition to 
the North Pole in 1773, relates that two officers engaged in an en- 
counter with a walrus, who, on being wounded, plunged into the 
water, and obtained a reinforcement of its fellows, who made a 
desperate attack on the boat, wresting an oar from one of the men, 
and had nearly upset her, when another boat came to her assistance. 

The affection of the mother for its young is remarkable. Captain 
Cook, in his third voyage, says : 

" We hoisted out the boats, and sent them in pursuit of the sea- 
horses that surrounded us. Our people were more successful than 
they had been before, returning with three large ones and a young 
one. On the approach of our boats towards the ice, they all took 
their cubs under their fins, and endeavoured to escape with them 
into the sea. Several, whose young were killed or wounded, and 
were left floating on the surface, rose again, and carried them down, 
sometimes, just as our people were going to take them into the 



no BATTLES OF THE WALRUS AND POLAR BEAR. v 

boat, and they might be traced bearing them a great distance through 
the water, which was coloured with their blood. We afterwards ^ 
observed them bringing them up at times above the surface, as 
if for air, and again diving under it with a dreadful bellowing, j 
The female in particular whose young had been destroyed and 
taken into the boat, became so enraged that she attacked the cutter^ 
and struck her tusks through the bottom of it." ^ 

Admiral Beechey also gives his testimony to the same effect : 

" In the vast sheet of ice which surrounded the ships there were | 
occasionally many pools, and when the weather was clear and warrrh 
animals of various kinds would frequently rise and sport about*m 
them, or crawl from thence upon the ice to bask in the warmth of 
the sun. A walrus rose in one of these pools close to the ship, and 
finding everything quiet, dived down again and brought up its 
young, which it held to its breast by pressing it with its flipper. In 
this manner it moved about the pool, keeping in an erect posture, 
and always directing the face of its young towards the vessel. On 
the slightest movement on board the mother released her flipper, and 
pushed the young one under water ; but when everything was quiet, 
again brought it up as before, and for a length of time continued 
to play about the pool, to the great amusement of the sailors." 

Man is not the only assailant of the sea-horse. On land its 
especial foe is the great Polar bear, and between these animals . 
there are often terrible battles. On these occasions the tusks of 
the walrus stand in good service, for they manage, usually, to beat I 
off the grizly enemy, though at the cost of many severe wounds. J 

Beechey gives an amusing instance of the cunning displayed by 
Bruin in his " inquiries " after the walrus : 

" One sunshiny day, one of these animals, about ten feet in 
length, rose in a pool of water not very far from us, and after look- 
ing round, drew his greasy carcase upon the ice, where he rolled 
about for a time, and at length laid himself down to sleep. A bear 
which had probably been observing his movements, crawled care- ( f 
fully upon the ice on the opposite side of the pool, and began to 
roll about also, but apparently more from design than amusement, 
as he progressively lessened the distance that intervened between 

i 



DOMESTICATION OF THE WALRUS. in 



him and his prey. The walrus, suspicious of his advances, drew 
himself up preparatory to a precipitous retreat into the water, in 
case of a nearer acquaintance with his playful but treacherous 
visitor. On this the bear became instantly motionless, as if in the 
act of sleep, but after a time began to lick his paws and clean him- 
self, encroaching occasionally a little more upon his intended prey. 
But even this artifice did not succeed : the wary walrus was far too 
cunning to allow himself to be entrapped, and suddenly plunged 
into the pool, which the bear no sooner observed than he threw 
off all disguise, rushed towards the spot, and followed him in an 
instant into the water — where I fear he was as much disappointed 
in his meal as we were of the pleasure of witnessing a very interest- 
ing encounter." 

At sea, the sword-fish is the most nimble and fiercest enemy of 
the walrus. We should scarcely imagine from the uncouth and 
heavy appearance of this animal that it would exhibit any striking 
traits of intelligence ; but it seems that when young it is not difficult 
to domesticate. Lamont mentions having seen one about the size 
■of a sheep on board a Norwegian vessel, and the most comical fac- 
simile imaginable of an old walrus. It had been taken alive after 
the harpooning of its mother, and was as playful as a kitten. It 
was a great favourite with all on board, and the only thing that 
annoyed it was pulling its whiskers. 

Another tusky inhabitant of the Arctic seas is the Narwahl, or 
Monodon, or what is popularly called the Sea- Unicorn, also an animal 
of the Mammalian order, about sixteen feet long and eight feet in 
circumference. In appearance the narwahl resembles a small whale, 
but with the addition of two long, straight, and pointed tusks, like 
spears, spirally twisted, directed forwards, and differing in length, 
the left one being about seven feet and a few inches, and the right 
seven feet. It frequently happens, however, that only one of these 
tusks grows, and the other, somehow strangled, remains shut up in 
the bone like a nut. This will account for the appellation given to 
the narwahl of the " sea-unicorn." These tusks are of a whiter and 
harder substance than ivory. The Kings of Denmark possess a 
magnificent throne in the Castle of Rosenberg made of this material. 



lis 7 HE SEA-UN1C0RM. 

In former times, when the origin of the horns of this animal was 
not well known, they were supposed to possess miraculous powers 
of healing diseases. The monks, in particular, fostered this delu- 
sion, and pretended that every ill under the sun could be removed 
by their power. The narwahl has no true teeth in either jaw; 
the mouth is small and the lips are stiff, but it is able to catch and 
swallow so large a fish as the skate, the breadth of which is nearly 
three times as much as the width of its own mouth. It seems 
probable, however, that the horn serves them in this need, the fish 
being pierced with it, and killed before devoured. It is used, also, 
in digging sea-plants from the rocks at great depths, in order to 
drive from their retreats the shrimps and other animals on which 
the narwahl feeds. The tail is about twenty inches long and four 
feet broad. It has no dorsal or back fin, but in place of it there 
is an irregular, sharp, fatty ridge, two inches in height, extending 
between two and three feet along the back, nearly midway between 
the snout and the tail. The prevailing colour of the animal is 
bluish-grey on the back, variegated with numerous dark spots, 
with paler and more grey marks on a white ground at the sides. 
In old sea-horses the colour is wholly white, or yellowish-white, 
with dark grey spots. They are quiet and inoffensive in their habits, 
and swim with -great rapidity. When respiring on the surface of 
the water, after blowing repeatedly, they frequently lie motionless 
for several minutes with the back and head just appearing above 
water. When harpooned, they dive to a considerable depth, and 
on returning to the surface for respiration, are readily killed in a 
few minutes with the lance. Near the coast they are always seen 
in flocks in the severest winters. The Greenlanders drive them 
with their sledges to fissures in the ice, where they are dispatched. 
The blubber, enwrapping the whole body, is from two to four inches 
in thickness. 

When a number of sea-horses are together, they divert them- 
selves in gambols, when, their horns appearing above the water, 
as if brandished about like weapons, have a singular effect, and 
the clattering noise they produce, with a kind of gurgling sound 
of the animals themselves, would lead one to suppose that some 



THE GREENLAND BEAR. in 

hostile proceedings were going on; but it is merely a playful move- 
ment of instruments which, if aggressively employed, would be 
dangerous. The force with which the narwahl urges its speed may 
be conceived by the circumstance that its tusk has been sometimes 
found driven through the planks of vessels. 

I cannot leave this part of my subject without a few observations 
on the most formidable of Arctic animals, the Greenland Bear. 
Although not amphibious, and therefore not strictly within the 
scope of my arrangement, yet the White Bear, " the tyrant of the 
cliffs and snows, uniting the strength of the lion with the un tame- 
able fierceness of the hyaena," from its capacity of swimming with 
great facility and power, may be said to exercise some control over 
the wide domain of the Northern regions, both in ocean and on 
land. It exercises these capacities especially in the pursuit of its 
favourite food, the seals. When these latter animals are floating 
about on loose drift-ice, the bear tries every art of cunning to 
get at them. It slips into water about half a mile to leeward of 
its prey, and swims slowly and silently towards them, keeping very 
little of its head above water. On approaching the ice on which 
the seals are lying, the bear slips along unseen under the edge of 
it until close to the hapless victims, when a jump and a few blows 
of its tremendous paws generally settles the business. 

Every Arctic voyager is aware of the fact that the Polar bears 
are seen on the ice at a great distance at sea, and quite out of 
sight of land. Captain Sabine states that he saw one about mid- 
way between the north and south shores of Barrow's Straits, which 
are forty miles apart, though there was no ice to be seen on which 
it could rest itself. 

The appearance of the white bear is clumsy and awkward. It 
is impatient of heat, and seems to have no other residence but the 
ice, and as it derives nearly all its sustenance from the sea, that 
would seem to be its proper situation. It is the only known species 
which is strictly marine in its habits, and differs from others of its 
kind by having a flat head and a comparatively long neck. It is 
entirely carnivorous, and animals of the land and sea, the dead 
and the living, are alike devoured. The floating carcases of 

8 



114 HABITS OF THE POLAR BEAR. 

whales and other marine animals form a considerable part of its 
food. 

Cartwright relates an instance of its agility in the water. He 
saw a Polar bear dive into the water after a salmon and kill it in 
an instant. On land it moves faster than would be supposed from 
its appearance ; when at full gallop its pace is described as a kind 
of shuffle as quick as the sharp trot of a horse. The fur is silvery 
white tinged with yellow, close, short, and even on the neck and 
head and upper part of the back. The sole of the foot, which is 
very large, exhibits a striking instance of adaptation of means to 
an end, for it is almost entirely covered with long hair, securing 
the animal a firm footing on the ice. The claws are black and 
much curved, thick and short. The length the white bear attains 
is from seven to eight feet. It has a most fearful aspect from its 
eyes being covered with a membrane or web, similar to that with 
which the eyes of birds are provided. The use of this is to protect 
the sight from the strong glare of the snow. The sense of smell 
is very acute, and sailors take advantage of this to entrap the 
animal within reach by burning a herring. When attacked, it rears 
itself on the hinder feet, and thus exposes itself to the deadly effects 
of the spear. The affection between the parent and young of the 
Polar bear is so great that they will sooner die than desert each 
other in distress. While the " Carcass " frigate, which went out 
some years ago to make discoveries in the Northern seas, was 
locked in the ice, the man at the mast-head one morning signalled 
that three bears were directing their course to the vessel. They 
had no doubt been invited by the scent of some blubber of a sea- 
horse that the crew had killed a few days before, which had been 
set on fire, and was burning on the ice at the time of their approach. 
They proved to be a she-bear and her two cubs, but the cubs were 
nearly as large as the dam. They ran eagerly to the fire, and drew 
out of the flames part of the flesh of the sea-horse that remained 
unconsumed, and ate it voraciously. The crew from the ship threw 
great lumps of the flesh of the sea-horse which they had still re- 
maining upon the ice. These the old bear brought. away singly, 
laid every lump before her cubs as she brought it, and dividing it f 



AFFECTION TO ITS YOUNG. u^ 

gave to each a share, reserving but a small portion to herself. As 
she was bringing away the last piece, the sailors levelled their 
muskets at the cubs, and shot them both dead ; and in her retreat 
they wounded the dam, but not mortally. The affectionate con- 
cern expressed by the poor beast in the last moments of her ex- 
piring young was most touching. Though she was herself dread- 
fully wounded, and could but just crawl to the place where they 
lay, she carried the lump of flesh she had brought away, as she 
had done others before, tore it in pieces, and laid it before them ; 
but when she saw that they refused to eat, she laid her paws first 
upon one, then upon the other, and endeavoured to raise them up : 
during this her moans were pitiful. When she found that she 
could not stir them she went off, and when she had got to some 
distance looked back and moaned ; and that not availing to entice 
them away, she returned, and smelling around them, began to lick 
their wounds. She went off a second time as before, and having 
crawled a few paces, looked again behind her, and for some time 
stood moaning. Finding at length that they were cold and lifeless, 
she raised her head towards the ship and uttered a growl of despair, 
which was answered by a volley of musket-balls, and she fell be- 
tween her cubs, licking their wounds as she died. 

Scoresby, in his " Account of the Arctic Regions," mentions a 
singular instance of sagacity in a mother-bear, who, with two cubs, 
was pursued across a field of ice by a party of armed sailors. At 
first she seemed to urge the young ones to increased speed, by 
running before them, turning round, and manifesting by a peculiar 
action and voice her anxiety for their progress ; but finding her 
pursuers gaining upon them, she carried, or pushed, or pitched 
them alternately forward until she effected their escape. In throw- 
ing them before her, the little creatures are said to have placed 
themselves across her path, to receive the impulse; and when pro- 
jected some yards in advance, they ran onwards until she overtook 
them, when they alternately adjusted themselves for a second 
throw. 

It is to this maternal attachment of the bear that the poet James 
Montgomery alludes, speaking of the Greenlanders going 



rr6 A POLAR BEAR IN A BOAT. 

* ' In bands, through snows, the mother-bear to trace, 
Slay with their darts the cubs in her embrace ; 
And while she lick'd their bleeding wounds, to brave 
Her deadliest vengeance in her inmost cave." 

The white bear can make very little resistance when attacked in 
the water, unless it can lay hold of the boat's gunwale with its 
paws, to prevent which the sailors endeavour to chop them off. 
Commander Inglefield says : 

" While working our way amongst the ice, a bear was observed 
swimming among the loose pieces. A boat was lowered, and I pro- 
ceeded in pursuit, but Bruin swam hard for his life, and we did not 
succeed in coming up with him till we were some distance from 
the ship. A shot I put into him with the Minie rifle rendered him 
desperate, and he turned upon me, swimming and plunging over 
the brash ice to get at the boat; but the rifle had been discharged 
and was hot prepared for a second shot, and we had not provided 
ourselves with an axe, a very necessary weapon, to prevent these 
brutes from getting into the boat, which they always attempt to do 
when badly hurt. He came within a single yard, when a Colt's 
revolver was pulled from my breast coat-pocket, and waiting till 
his nose nearly touched the muzzle, Bruin lay dead, his head falling 
between his fore legs, and we quietly towed him alongside." 

Scoresby relates an amusing instance of a bear climbing into a 
boat, and sitting down coolly inside it, while the crew whom it had 
ejected hung on outside until another boat's crew came up and 
killed it. . 

The accounts given by the early navigators in the Northern seas 
of the size, strength, and ferocity of the Polar bear are appalling, 
but modern experience has considerably modified such impressions. 
That the animal when pressed hard will attack a man there is no 
doubt, and it must be very formidable; but it usually makes oft 
when pursued, or when it cannot attain its object by cunning. 

In the second voyage to Greenland, in 1595, of William Barentz, 
one of the hardiest of the Arctic navigators, there is a curious re- 
lation of an encounter with a bear. Some of his crew had landed, 
and as two of his men were lying together " a greate leane white J 



NELSON'S ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR. 117 

beare came suddenly stealing out, and caught one of them faste 
by the necke, who, not knowing what it was that tooke him by 
the necke, cryed out and sayd, ' Who is it that pulls me so by the 
necke?' Wherewith the other, that laye not farre from him, lifted 
up his head to see who it was, and perceiving it to be a monstrous 
beare, cryed out and sayd, ' Oh, mate, it is a beare!' and therewith 
rose up and ranne away." The animal is said to have instantly 
bit his head in two, and sucked out his blood, and upon being 
attacked by a boat's crew of twenty persons, some with pikes and 
others with muskets, turned furiously upon the assailants, seized 
one of the men and tore him in pieces, and the rest ran away. 
The people on board, perceiving what had happened, went on 
shore to the number of thirty, and attacked the furious animal. 
The purser shot it in the head between the eyes, but it still retained 
a hold of the dead man. At length, on seeing it stagger, the purser 
and a Scotchman drew out their cutlasses, and struck the bear with 
such force that the weapons were broken, when one William Geysen 
felled it to the ground, when they contrived to kill it. 

It was in pursuit of a bear in the Northern seas that Nelson, 
who became "the hero of a hundred fights," displayed when a 
youth the cool courage for which he was afterwards so much dis- 
tinguished. He was coxswain to his uncle, Captain Lutwidge, in 
Lord Mulgrave's expedition to the Ajrctic regions in 1772. In 
these high Northern latitudes the nights are sometimes clear, and 
during one of them, notwithstanding the intense cold, young Nelson 
was missing. Search was made for him in vain, and it was feared 
he was lost, when at sunrise he was discovered at a considerable 
distance on the ice, armed with a musket, in anxious pursuit of 
an enormous bear. The lock of the gun being injured, the piece 
would not go off, and he had followed the animal in hopes of 
tiring it, and being able to attack it with the butt-end. On his 
return, being reprimanded for leaving the ship without leave, and 
asked what could possibly have induced him to undertake so rash 
an action, the young sailor replied, with great simplicity, " I wished 
to get the skin for my father." 

I will conclude my observations on the bear by relating to 



ii8 A REAR IN THE TOWER. 

you that in the reign of Henry III. a large one was brought to 
London, and lodged, as a prisoner, but in comfortable quarters, in 
the Tower, where it was visited as an immense curiosity, you may be 
sure. Two writs of the monarch I have mentioned are still extant, 
one of which orders the Sheriff of London to pay fourpence a day 
" for our white bear in the Tower of London and his keeper ; " 
also " to provide a muzzle and iron chain to hold him when out of 
the water, and a long and strong rope to hold him when he is fish- 
ing in the Thames." 





CHAPTER X. 

MINUTE ANIMAL LIFE IN THE OCEAN 

"Oh, what an endless work hath he in hand 

Who 'd count the sea's abundant progeny ; 

Whose fruitful seed far passeth that on land, 

And also them that roam the azure sky, 

So fertile be the floods in generation, 
So vast their numbers, and so numberless their nation.'* 

Spenser. 

j RUE and just are the words of our great national poet ; 
for, as Humboldt informs us, though the surface of the 
ocean is less rich in animal and vegetable forms than 
that of continents, still, when its depths are searched, perhaps no 
other portion of our planet presents such fulness of organic life. 
Darwin says that our land forests do not harbour so many animals 
as the low-wooded regions of the ocean, where the seaweeds, rooted 
to the shoals, or long branches detached by the force of waves and 
currents, and swimming free, upborne by air-cells, unfold their 
delicate foliage. The microscope still further increases our im- 
pression of the profusion of organic life which pervades the recesses 
of the ocean, since throughout its mass we find animal existence, 
and at depths exceeding the height of our loftiest mountain chains. 
Here swarm countless hosts of minute animals, which, when at- 
tracted to the surface by particular conditions of weather, convert 
every wave into a crest of light. The abundance of these minute 
creatures, and of the animal matter supplied by their rapid decom- 



i±6 PROFUSION OF ANIMAL LIF&. 

position is such, that the sea-water itself becomes a nutritious fluid 
to many of the large inhabitants of the ocean. 

Even in the bleak and dreary regions of the Northern world the 
wintry seas are filled with a profusion of animal life. The smaller 
species, of which the herring may be taken for an example, are 
found amidst the depths of the Arctic zone in immense shoals; 
countless millions of creatures of Beroe, a genus of Acalefthce (from 
the Greek, signifying "nettles," so named from the stinging power 
which many of them possess), of higher organization than the 
Medusce, or jelly-fish, exist here, with globular or oval bodies of a 
delicate or jelly-like substance, strengthened by bands which are 
covered with rows of large cilia (a peculiar sort of moving organs 
resembling microscopic hairs), the motion of which is extremely 
rapid, and is evidently controlled by the will of the little animal. 
hlly-Fish, Zoophytes, &c, swarm also to such an extent as to con- 
vert the surface water in some places almost into a kind of soup, 
which furnishes food not only to small fish, but to whales and 
animals of the largest growth. Even the colour of the ocean is 
influenced by the enormous quantity of the organic life it sustains. 
The application of the microscope — for by far the most numerous of 
the animalculae can only thus be traced — shows them to be the cause 
of a peculiar tinge observed over a great extent of the Greenland 
Sea. This colour is olive-green, and the water is dark and dense com- 
pared to that which bears the common cerulean hue. The portion 
of the ocean so distinguished amounts to not less than twenty thou- 
sand square miles, and hence the number of animalculae which that 
space contains is far beyond human calculation. Scoresby estimated 
that two square miles only would include 28,888,000,000,000,000 ; 
and as such an amount is out of conception, he illustrates it by 
observing that eighty thousand persons would have been employed 
since the creation in counting it ! This green sea may be con- 
sidered as the Polar pasture-ground, where whales are always seen 
in the greatest number. The remarks of the eminent navigator and 
naturalist I have mentioned, on this subject, are so interesting that 
I will quote them. 

"Nothing," he says, "particularly being observed in this kind oi 



THE MEDUSA, OR JELLY-FISH. il\ 

water (the Greenland Sea) to give it the remarkable colour it as- 
sumes, I at first imagined that this appearance was derived from 
the nature of the bottom of the sea; but on observing that the water 
was imperfectly transparent, insomuch that tongues (points of ice 
projecting nearly horizontally from a part that is under water) of 
ice, two or three fathoms under water, could scarcely be discerned, 
and were sometimes invisible, and that the ice floating in the olive- 
green sea was often marked about the edges with an orange-yellow 
stain, I was convinced that it must be occasioned by some yellow 
substance held in suspension by the water, capable of discolouring 
the ice, and if so, combining with the natural blue of the ocean so 
as to produce the peculiar tinge observed. For the purpose of 
ascertaining the nature of the colouring substance, and submitting 
it to a future examination, I procured a quantity of snow from a 
piece of ice that had been washed by the sea, and was greatly dis- 
coloured by the deposition of some peculiar substance upon it. A 
little of this snow dissolved in a wine-glass appeared perfectly cloudy, 
the water being found to contain a great number of semi-transparent 
spherical substances, with others resembling small portions of fine 
hair. On examining the substance with a compound microscope, 
I was enabled to make the following observations : 

"The semi-transparent globules appeared to consist of an animal 
of the Medusa (jelly-fish) kind. It was from one-twentieth to one- 
thirtieth of an inch in diameter.' Its surface was marked with 
twelve distinct patches of dots of a brownish colour : these dots 
were disposed in pairs, four pairs, or sixteen pairs, alternately 
composing one of the patches. The body of the animal was trans- 
parent. When the water in which it lay was heated, it emitted a 
very strong odour, resembling, in some respects, the smell of oysters 
when thrown on hot coals, but much more offensive. The fibrous 
or hair-like substances were more easily examined, being of a 
darker colour. They varied in length from- a point to one-tenth 
of an inch, and when highly magnified, were found to be beauti- 
fully shaped." 

Some of the calculations of the ingenious and clever Scoresby 
are very curious and instructive. In a drop of water there were 



122 ANIMALCULAE in a drop of water. 

fifty of these animalcule, on an average, in each square of the 
micrometer-glass of an eight hundred and fortieth of an inch ; and 
as the drop occupied a circle on a plate of glass containing five 
hundred and twenty-nine of these squares, there must have been in 
this single drop of water — taken out of the yellowish-green sea, in 
a place by no means the most discoloured — about twenty-six 
thousand four hundred and fifty of these animalculae ! Hence, 
reckoning sixty drops to a dram, there would be a number in a 
gallon of water exceeding, by one-half, the population of the whole 
globe ! It gives a wonderful conception of the minuteness and 
vastness of creation, when we think of more than twenty-six 
thousand animals — living, obtaining subsistence, and moving per- 
fectly at their ease, without annoyance to one another — in a single 
drop of water! 

The diameter of the largest of these animalculae was only the 
two-thousandth part of an inch, and many only the four-thousandth. 
The army which Buonaparte led into Russia in 1812, estimated at 
five hundred thousand men, would have extended — in a double 
row, or two men abreast, with two feet three inches space for each 
couple of men — a distance of one hundred and six and a half 
English miles ; the same number of these animalculae, arrayed in 
a similar way in two rows, but touching one another, would only 
reach five feet two and a half inches ! A whale requires an ocean 
to sport in, but about one hundred and fifty millions of these 
animalculae would have abundant room in a tumbler of water ! 
What a stupendous idea is thus afforded of the immensity of 
creation, and of the bounty of Divine Providence, in furnishing 
such a profusion of life in regions so remote from the habitations 
of men ! Even if we consider the number of animals in a space of 
two miles square as great, what must be the amount requisite for 
the discoloration of the sea through an extent of, perhaps, twenty 
or thirty thousand square miles 1 

If we turn from the Arctic seas to the warmer regions of the 
ocean, we find the same wonderful profusion of animal life existing 
in minute forms of infinite variety : small Mollusca (soft animals 
inhabiting shells) ; Crustacea (with articulated limbs and hard 



INHABITANTS OF THE SEAWEED, 123 

coverings), and luminous creatures, as Salpoz, of which vast gelatin- 
ous shoals are met with at sea, associated in a round mass like a 
chain, transparent, and of beautiful colours, of which, we are told, 
that during a journey of nearly eight hundred miles, they were 
thickly abundant throughout the track of the ship in the ocean. 
Each portion of the vast masses of floating seaweed consists — 
when carefully examined — of a little densely populated world, being 
crowded with living beings, all active and full of bustling animation 
— strange-shaped little fishes, bright sea-slugs, tiny shells of the 
nautilus tribe, grotesque sea-spiders, and whole gangs of odd crabs, 
jelly-fish, and transparent shrimps. 

" The number of living creatures of all orders," observes Darwin, 
" whose existence intimately depends on the kelp (marine plants) 
is wonderful. A great volume might be written describing the 
inhabitants of one of these beds of seaweed. Almost all the leaves, 
excepting those on the surface, are so thickly encrusted with coral- 
lines as to be of a white colour. We find exquisitely delicate struc- 
tures, some inhabited by simple hydra-like Polypi, others by more 
organized kinds and beautiful compound Ascidice (from the Greek 
as&os, a bottle or pouch, these little molluscs resembling sacs every- 
where closed, except at two orifices). Innumerable Crustacea fre- 
quent every part of the plant. On shaking the great entangled 
roots, a pile of small fish, shells, cuttle-fish, crabs of all orders, 
sea-eggs, star-fish, and animals of a multitude of forms all fall out 
together. Often as I recurred to a branch of the kelp, I never 
failed to discover animals of new and curious structures. I can 
only compare these great aquatic forests of the Southern Hemi- 
sphere with the terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. Yet if 
in any country a forest were destroyed, I do not believe nearly so 
many species of animals would perish as would here from the 
destruction of the kelp. Amidst the leaves of this plant numerous 
species of fish live which nowhere else could find food or shelter ; 
with their destruction, the many cormorants and other fishing birds, 
the otters, seals, and porpoises, would soon perish also." 

How elevating is the thought that amidst all this prodigious 
variety and profusion, the boundless extent of which no human 



124 SEA-NETTLES. 



mind can conceive, yet the minutest animated particle that is 
revealed by the microscope is governed by the same laws that 
regulate the highest objects in creation ! 

"Each moss, 
Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank 
Important in the scale of Him who framed 
This scale of, beings; holds a rank which, lost, 
Would break the chain, and leave a gap behind, 
Which Nature's self would rue." 

Very interesting is the study of those curious inhabitants of the 
ocean, constituting what are termed by naturalists Acalephcz, as I 
have previously mentioned, but which are more commonly known 
by such names as jelly-fish, sea-blubber, &c., and are sometimes 
called sea-nettles, the singular characteristics of which I ought to 
explain to you a little more fully. Most of them were included 
in the Linnaean genus Medusa, and the name Medusa is still 
frequently applied to them. They abound in all parts of the 
ocean, although some are tropical and others belong to cold lati- 
tudes. Some are of a large size, reaching to two feet in diameter, 
and others are very small. They are of an extremely soft jelly 
tissue, which in most of them, and in all the true Medusae, is unsup- 
ported by any harder substance. The latter comprise various 
species that shine with great splendour in the water. The South 
Atlantic abounds with them, and much amusement may be de- 
rived in a long sea voyage by observing these beautiful organisms, 
for endless are the moulds in which prolific Nature has cast them. 
Some are shaped like a mushroom, others are like ribbons, or 
globular, flat, or bell-shaped ; others, again, resemble a bunch of 
berries. Their motions are generally slow, their sensations dull, 
and directed entirely to the procuring of food. They often float 
without any apparent animation, trusting in the winds and waves 
to waft them about, and to carry them their food ; some keep a 
little beneath the surface, and propel themselves by contracting 
their pellucid disks. They have been termed the "living jellies of 
the deep," and some are endowed with an acrid secretion, which 
irritates the skin, and has thus caused them to be termed sea- 
nettles. The poet Crabbe thus characterizes them ; 



SEA-WORMS. 125 



" Those living jellies which the flesh inflame. 
Fierce as a nettle, and from that the name ; 
Some in huge masses, some that you may bring 
In the small compass of a lady's ring. 

Figured by hand Divine — there 's not a gem 
Wrought by man's art to be compared to them ; 
Soft, brilliant, tender, through the wave they glow, 
And make the moonbeam brighter where they flow." 

There is one large species common in the Straits of Singapore. 
dreaded by the Malays on account of the violence of this power. 
Mr. Adams, surgeon to H.M.S. "Samarang," mentions, in " Bel- 
cherts Narrative/' the case of a Malay fisherman who was obliged 
to have his thumb amputated in consequence of the violent inflam- 
mation caused by contact with one of these Medusae. 

Sometimes these animals are colourless, and as transparent as 
crystal ; others are embellished with the most brilliant hues, and 
seem as if adorned with the richest enamel. Stevens, one of the 
first voyagers to the East Indies (1579 — 1583), describes the jelly- 
fish he saw in the Gulf of Guinea as " a thing swimming on the 
water, like a cock's comb, but the colour much fairer, which comb 
standeth upon a thing almost like the swimmer of a fish in colour 
and bigness." 

Another curious and widely-distributed class of marine animals 
are the Annelides, or Sea- Worms (from the Latin annulus, a ring), 
the bodies being composed of rings and joints. Some species are 
only met with in the high seas, swimming freely, while most of the 
others are to be found on the sea-shore, burrowing in the sand or 
mud, or living under stones, or amidst seaweed. A few construct 
a sheath or case for themselves, in which they ordinarily live, but 
which are not essential to the existence of the tenant, as they can 
leave it without inconvenience, and wander at liberty for their food 
elsewhere. Their bodies are formed of more or less numerous 
rings, each of which is furnished with feet, which are the chief 
organs of motion, and are truly wonderful. They are generally 
in the form of small tubercles, and for the most part are composed 
of two branches. Their summit or tip is frequently armed with 



126 THEIR WONDERFUL BEAUTY. 

one or more bundles of bristles, which play an important part in 
the history of the animals. They form an ornamental appendage 
to the worm, and at the same time are used as organs of defence 
and offence. Notwithstanding they live in situations in which 
they are seldom seen by the human eye, yet in some species these 
organs have a remarkable degree of brilliancy, shining with a me- 
tallic lustre and splendour of the richest kind. The common Sea* 
Mouse, for instance, has a very large bundle of them attached to each 
foot, which are very fine and of considerable length. Gold, azure, 
purple, and green play on their surface in a thousand reflections, 
and these rainbow colours are in perfect harmony with the changing 
reflections and rings of the body. The wing of the butterfly has 
not received a more brilliant dress than these worms, concealed at 
the bottom of the waters, and sometimes buried in black and foetid 
mud. As Cuvier says, they are brilliant as gold, and changeable 
to every hue of the rainbow. The colours they present are not 
surpassed in beauty by the scale-like feathers of the humming- 
bird, nor by the most brilliant gems. These bristles, however, are 
as useful as they are ornamental. Surrounded on every side by 
enemies, usually dwelling in the waters where the worms live, they 
require powerful weapons of offence for resistance or for securing 
their prey. 

Some species of these worms are armed with a weapon like a 
harpoon, a lancet, or a knife. Some have an appendage, falchion- 
shaped, and others a bayonet fixed upon a musket, while others 
represent the appearance of a barbed arrow. These weapons are 
used to pierce the bodies of their enemies, and they frequently 
leave them in the wounds they have made. The celebrated 
French naturalist, Milne Edwardes, thus describes the harpoon- 
shaped bristles : " The tubercles of the feet," he says, " from which 
the barbed arrow-shaped bristles spring, are, in reality, quivers full 
of arrows, stored there for the use of the animals to protect them 
from violence," or as Gosse fancifully observes, " You may imagine 
you behold the armoury of some belligerent sea-fairy, with stores 
of arms enough to accoutre a numerous host. If you look closely 
at the weapons themselves, they rather resemble those we are 



THE NEREIDS. 127 



accustomed to wonder at in missionary museums — the arms of 
some ingenious but barbarous people from the South Sea Islands, 
than such as are used in civilized warfare. 

The number of such-like weapons in these worms is immense. 
" Let me ask the naturalist," says Dr. Johnston, " to count the 
number which may be required to furnish the garniture of a single 
individual. There are worms which have five hundred feet on 
each side ; each foot has two branches, and each branch has at 
least one spine and one brush of bristles, some of them simple, 
some of them compound. This individual has, therefore, two thou- 
sand spines at least, and if we reckon ten bristles to each brush, it 
has also twenty thousand of them ! Let us look a little further, 
not merely to the exquisite finish of each bristle, but to the means 
by which the host is put in motion. There is a set of muscles to 
push them forth from their port-holes ; there is another to replace 
each and all of them within their proper cases ; and the uncounted 
crowds of these muscles neither twist nor knot together, but play 
in their courses, regulated by a will that controls them more effec- 
tually than any brace ; now spurring them to convulsive energy, 
now stilling them to rest, and then putting them into action with an 
ease and grace that charm us into admiration, and fix the belief 
that even these creeping things participate largely in the happiness 
diffused throughout creation ! " 

The Nereids, which belong to the same class of sea-worms, have 
a long body, narrowed towards the inferior extremity, and divided 
into numerous segments, with well-developed appendages, a head, 
eyes, horns or feelers, and, in general, a large proboscis, armed 
with a pair of jaws, curved, hooked, and strong, with teeth on the 
inner margin. Gosse thus describes the Pearly Nereis, which is 
one of the finest and commonest of the kind : " The upper surface 
is of a warm fawn brown, but the beautiful flashes of rainbow blue 
that play on it in the changing light, and the exquisite pearly opal- 
escence of the delicate pink beneath, are so conspicuous as to have 
secured for it the title of i pearly ' par excellence" 

Another species of the group of the Nereids, the " White-Rag 
Worm" a common inhabitant of the shores of our own country, 



128 "JUMPING JOHNNIES? 

varying from six to ten inches in length, is of a beautiful pearly 
lustre, exactly similar to that of mother-of-pearl. The foot, when 
magnified, resembles a horse's hoof, and is a very marvellous piece 
of Nature's mechanism. This animal swims rapidly in the sea. 
Another species is of a rich greenish colour, varied with bluish 
shades, reflecting a metallic lustre, and varying like the hues of 
the rainbow. 

With the tribe of sea-worms I may also mention the Sea-Leech 
or Skate-sucker, so named because the worm lives on fish, and 
attaches itself chiefly to the skate, from which it is scarcely ever 
found free. The mouth of this animal is not provided with jaws, 
so it sucks up the juices of the body of its host by a kind of 
pumping process. 

The Leapi?ig- Worms, found on the coasts of Borneo, are curious 
creatures. Each step in advance to take them causes them to 
jump in a rapid manner, and in a series of leaps they reach the 
margin of the water, when it is impossible to capture them. When 
lying at rest they are scarcely distinguishable from the mud in 
which they lie. They are wedge-shape in form, about three or 
four inches long, with flat pointed tails, and broad heads and 
prominent eyes. The sailors have nicknamed them '•' Jumping 
Johnnies." 

Other curious marine objects are the Pteropods (from Greek 
words signifying "wing" and " foot "), active, Tittle, energetic 
molluscs, common almost in every sea. They are the very butter- 
flies of the deep, and from their extreme vivacity would appear to 
be possessed of acute sensibilities. Insatiate and greedy, they are 
ever on the move, spinning, whirling, and diving in every direc- 
tion. 

Such is a brief outline, my young friends, and, I am afraid, very 
imperfect, of some of the minute animal organisms which are found 
in countless myriads in the ocean. In other chapters you will find 
notices of the larger inhabitants of the deep ; but how slight is our 
knowledge, even with the acquirements of modern discovery, to 
give even a slight insight into the mysteries of creation in the vast 
abyss of waters 1 



ANIMAL LIFE IN DEEP WATERS. 129 

" Fish in the sea the circling eddies hide, 
And through the trackless deep unseen they sporting glide ; 
And, ah i how great the task ! for who can know 
What creatures swarm in secret depths below ? 
Unnumbered shoals glide through the cold abyss 
Unseen, and wanton in unenvied bliss. 
For who, with all his skill, can certain teach 
How deep the sea — how far the waters reach ? " 

The existence of animal life at great depths of the ocean is a 
subject on which some of the most eminent scientific men of our 
time have been divided ; the general opinion having been that 
living bodies could not possibly sustain the enormous pressure of 
the waters. Recent discoveries, however, have shown that such 
opinions are incorrect, and Dr. Carpenter has been able, by his 
experiments in deep waters, to prove Dr. Wallich's statement that 
temperature and not depth determines the existence and abundance 
of deep-sea life. 

Sir John Ross published in 18 19 an account of sea-worms and 
other animals which had been brought up from great depths, where 
no life had been supposed to exist, in the Arctic seas ; and about 
thirty years afterwards his nephew, Sir James C. Ross, made similar 
discoveries in the Antarctic seas. In 1862 Dr. Wallich published 
his researches in the Atlantic sea-bed, and the results of his sound- 
ings, to a depth of seven thousand five hundred and sixty feet, 
from which he drew up star-fishes, are very curious. " What," he 
remarks, "mechanical ingenuity failed to achieve, hunger or curi- 
osity achieved ; and thus while the sounding apparatus only suc- 
ceeded in bringing from this depth a number of minute shell- 
covered creatures, so simply organized as to render them incapable 
of perceiving or escaping a danger, thirteen star-fishes, ranging in 
diameter from two to three inches, came up, convulsively embracing 
a portion of the sounding-line which had been paid out in excess 
of the already ascertained depth, and rested for a sufficient time at 
the bottom to permit their attaching themselves to it These star- 
fishes arrived at the surface in a living condition, and, what is more 
extraordinary, continued to move their long spine-covered rays for 
more than a quarter of an hour afterwards." 

9 



iio DEEP -SEA SOUNDINGS. 

Although this description of animal life does not correctly apply 
to the " minute" objects which form the subject of my present 
chapter, I have introduced it to show how this discovery has led 
the way to the very interesting and valuable researches of Dr. 
Carpenter and other distinguished scientific explorers. I wish 
that space permitted me to enter more largely into this most inte- 
resting subject. Dr. Carpenter effected his dredgings and sound- 
ings between the north of Scotland and the Faroe Islands, and 
many particulars of his valuable discoveries may be found in his 
lecture at the Royal Microscopical Society. By sending down 
into the deep, registering thermometers, he was able to show the 
existence of a warm and a cold area, the former abounding and 
the other deficient in living forms. It was remarkable that many 
of the Forarminfera (from the Latin foramen, "hole" f era, "I bear," 
the designation of a tribe of minute shells) procured from the 
deep-sea beds, were not dwarfed — as was formerly supposed must 
be the case from the pressure and other peculiar conditions; on 
the contrary, many specimens from the warm space were of unusual 
dimensions. At upwards of three thousand feet, not only was life 
abundant, but various, including molluscs, Crustacea, &c. In one 
sounding the sand was composed entirely of animals, which could 
not exist in multitudes without a considerable supply of food : it 
is supposed that the deep sea must contain myriads of infusoria 
(microscopic animals) suitable for their support. 

Sea-soundings, as you may know, comprehend the means 
employed to ascertain the depth of water beneath a ship or boat. 
This is essential to discover shoals, or sunken rocks, or when 
approaching a shore. It was formerly the practice to use for this 
purpose silken threads twisted together, or the lead and line. 
What is nautically termed " throwing the lead," is performed by a 
man standing in the ship's chains. The lead has a cup-like hollow 
on the lower surface, to which a lump of tallow is attached ; and 
in tolerably shallow water, the seaman sounds with a line of from 
sixty to one hundred and eighty feet in length, which is marked, at 
distances of twelve or eighteen feet, by pieces of cloth of different 
colours. The particles of mud, sand, and shell (if there are any 



BROOKE'S APPARATUS. 131 

at the bottom) adhere to the tallow, and are brought up with it ; 
by which, not only the depth of water is ascertained by the length 
of line run out, but the nature of the bottom of the ocean is made 
out, whether rocky or otherwise. But (as Professor Ansted informs 
us) this method is only adapted for small depths (within six hundred 
feet), and improved methods have been adopted of late, by which 
depths of from two to three thousand feet could be, with tolerable 
accuracy, determined. The American sounding apparatus of Lieu- 
tenant Brooke is now generally employed with great success to 
obtain proof not only of the depths of the ocean, but the nature 
of its bottom, even where the distance to be traversed is greater 
(observes Professor Ansted) than the loftiest peak of the Hima- 
layans, or the Andes, above the sea-level. 

The apparatus is a light thin framework, containing a cup and 
valve for catching and holding the mud or sand of the bottom ; 
and to this is attached a heavy sinker, in such a way, that while 
perfectly safe to carry down the line, it becomes detached and is 
got rid of the instant the bottom is reached. There is, therefore, 
nothing to bring up but the line itself, and the few pounds* weight 
of framework, with the matters from the bottom of the ocean ; and 
nothing is lost but the sinker — an iron ball of sufficient weight for 
the purpose. A modification of this apparatus has been made for 
the use of the British navy, which ensures greater success, and by 
this means a large number of deep soundings have been made in 
various parts of the Atlantic, and also in the Indian and Pacific 
Oceans. 

It is to be hoped that with these means of testing accurately the 
depths of the ocean, new light will be thrown upon its hidden re- 
cesses and its animated recluses ; and that science will be enabled 
to pierce 

u The dark, unknown, mysterious cavea 

And secret haunts — 

Beneath all visible retired." 




CHAPTER XL 

THE ROCK-BUILDERS OF THE OCEAN. 

" Toil on! toil on! ye ephemeral train, 
Who build in the tossing and treacherous main ; 
Toil on ! for the wisdom of man ye mock 
With your sand -based structures and domes of rock, 
Your columns the fathomless fountains lave, 
And your arches spring to the crested wave ; 
Ye 're a puny race thus boldly to rear 
A fabric so vast in a realm so drear ! 

Ye bind the deep with your secret zone ; 
The ocean is sealed, and the surge a stone ; 
Fresh wreaths from the coral pavements spring, 
Like the terraced pride of Assyria's king. 
The turf looks green where the breakers roll'd ; 
O'er the whirlpool ripens the rind of gold ; 
The sea-snatched isle is the home of men, 
And mountains exult where the wave hath been. ,, 

Mrs. SlGOURNEY. 




pNE of the most conspicuous wonders of the vast ocean k 
Coral, that most beautiful and precious of its produc- 
tions, which you have no doubt often remarked, without 
thinking of the cause of its formation and the extraordinary results 
to which it gives rise. 

No art can imitate the delicate tracery, the rich colour, and the 



THE BEAUTY OF CORAL. 133 

singular forms that coral assumes. It has been called by some 
writers " The Queen of the Ocean," and no term could be more 
appropriate. Ehrenberg, the celebrated naturalist, on viewing the 
coral-beds of the Red Sea, exclaimed, "Where is the Paradise of 
flowers that can rival such variety and beauty ? " 

Mr. J. Beete Jukes records his own vivid impressions on seeing 
some coral-beds in the Pacific : 

" I had," he says, " hitherto been rather disappointed by the 
aspect of the coral reefs, so far as beauty was concerned; and, 
though very wonderful, I had not seen in them much to admire. 
One day, however, on the lee side of one of the outer reefs, I had 
reason to change my opinion. In a small bight (a little bay be- 
tween two points of land) of the inner edge of the reef was a 
sheltered nook, where the extreme slope was well exposed, and 
where every coral was in full life and luxuriance.' ' 

Mr. Jukes describes them as of every shape : some delicate and 
leaf-like; others with large branching stems; and others, again, 
exhibiting an assemblage of interlacing twigs of the most delicate 
and exquisite workmanship. Their colours were unrivalled, vivid 
greens contrasting with more sober browns and yellows, mingled 
with rich shades of purple, from pale pink to deep blue. Among the 
branches, covered with their beautiful drapery of ocean vegetation, 
floated fish of various colours, radiant with metallic green or crim- 
son, or fantastically banded with yellow and black stripes. Patches 
of clear white sand were seen here and there, for the floor, with 
dark hollows and recesses. All these, seen through the clear 
crystal water, the ripple of which gave motion and quick play of 
light and shadow to the whole, formed a scene of rarest beauty, 
and left nothing to be desired by the eye, either in elegance oi 
form or brilliancy and harmony of colouring. 

I must tell you, however, that it is only in the ocean the glorious 
homes of the rock-builders are to be seen in perfection, for, im- 
mediately after drawing the coral from the water, so rapidly does 
atmospheric exposure affect them, that it would be difficult to 
recognize the lovely objects which a moment before were glowing 
in the still waters. 



134 BELIEVED TO BE FLOWERS. 

" Under spar-enchased bowers 
Bending on their twisted stems, 

Glow the myriad ocean-flowers, 
Fadeless — rich as Orient gems ; 
Hung with seaweed's tasselled fringes, 
Dyed with all the rainbow's tinges, 

Rise the Triton's palace walls. 
Pallid silver's wand'ring veins 
Streams like frost-work o'er the stains; 
Pavements thick with golden grains 

Twinkle through their crystal halls.'* 

Such are the grand and mysterious operations of Providence in 
the depths of the ocean ! I will now describe to you the singular 
animals to whom the accomplishment of these marvels is due; but 
I must first mention that coral was formerly supposed to be a 
marine plant. This ancient notion rested not merely on its shrub- 
like form, but from the circumstance that its branches are covered 
with a soft coating while in the water, but which dries up imme- 
diately on its extraction. Marsilli, an Italian naturalist, perceived 
in 1707 small objects in the coral-cells, which he thought were 
flowers ; but at length Peyssonnel, a French physician at Marseilles, 
discovered in 1727 that there was life in the coral, and that these 
assumed flowers were in reality minute animals. Thus, by the 
aid of the microscope, an object which might be said to belong to 
mineralogy, and by its trunk and branches to botany, was now 
admitted to a rank in the animal world. This discovery of Peys- 
sonnel, the result of thirty years 7 studious research into the nature 
of coral, was laughed at by many persons at the time and treated 
as absurd, but Linnaeus, the great Swedish naturalist, saw the truth 
at once, and did not hesitate to place coral at the head of the 
zoophytes, or animal plants, an appropriate designation, because it 
indicates at the same time the double nature of the substances. 

A common characteristic of these animals is that their mouths 
are surrounded by radiating tentacles or feelers, appendages by 
which they attach themselves to surrounding objects, arranged 
somewhat like the rays of a flower. By this you will understand 
the term £oly£i } by which these animals are also known, from the 



REPRODUCTIVE POWER OF THE POLYP. 135 

Greek words fiohts, " many," and pous, " foot." Of these the indi- 
viduals of a few families are separate and perfect in themselves, but 
the greater number of zoophytes are compound beings, or, as I 
may better explain myself, each zoophyte consists of an indefinite 
number of individuals, or polyps, connected together. 

Now, this polyp is an extraordinary creature, and has a tenacity 
of life truly remarkable. If you cut off the branch of a tree, or 
sever the limb of an animal, these parts will wither and decompose 
by passing into other parts of matter. If you cut a tree carelessly, 
its natural symmetry is disfigured; if you slit it down its centre, it 
is destroyed. Animals thus treated die, with the exception of the 
polyp, for it will put forth new limbs, form a new head or tail, and, 
if divided, become two separate existences. 

" If," remarks M. Trembley, who was a close observer of these 
animals, " a polyp be cut in two, the fore part, which contains the 
head and mouth and arms, lengthens itself, creeps, and eats on the 
same day. The tail part forms a new head and mouth; at the 
wounded end shoot forth arms ; if turned inside out, the parts at 
once accommodate themselves to these new conditions. If the body 
were cut into ten pieces, every portion would become a new perfect 
living animal. A polyp has been cut lengthways at seven in the 
morning, and in eight hours afterwards each part has devoured a 
worm as long as itself ! How astonishing it is to see a creature so 
apparently frail in structure, possessing the actions, sensations, and 
powers of higher organized beings ! The stomach is without mem- 
brane or cell ; the outside surface-cells form a kind of double skin, 
and the inside consist of a wall of cells running crosswise, with a 
velvet-like surface, being red or brown grains held together by '*. 
sort of gluey substance." 

And now let us see how these minute builders of the ocean rocks 
make their habitations, and form the wonderful coral groves and 
islands — sometimes hundreds of miles in extent— that we read of. 

The various species of these animals appear to be furnished with 
glands (a set of bodies employed to form or to alter the different 
liquids in the animal body) containing gluten (the basis of glue), 
converting the carbonate of lime which is in the ocean ? and other 



!36 NATURE OF CORAL. 

earthy matters, into a fixed and hard substance, twisted — as you 
observe in coral — in every variety of shape. 

If you examine a piece of coral with the microscope, you will 
see that it is covered with a multitude of small pits, which are cells 
of the most beautiful construction, made with the greatest regu- 
larity, and in such a manner that the most experienced builder 
would pronounce faultless. How this is effected and what peculiar 
instincts the little toilers of the ocean possess that enable them to 
construct their dwellings with such mathematical nicety are among 
those mysteries of Nature we cannot comprehend; but it is certain 
that large masses of solid rock are framed by these animals, ever 
working to the music of the waves. " Verily," observes Baker, " for 
my own part, the more I look into Nature's works, the sooner I am 
inclined to believe of her even those things that seem incredible." 
But here we have the certainty of Nature's operations : we know 
that islands and continents are constructed for the habitation 
of man by these minute animals ; that mountains like the Apen- 
nines, and regions to which our own country is but trifling in com- 
parison, are the resuits of their toil. Dr. Mantell remarks, that 
south-west of Malabar there is a chain of reefs and islets of coral 
extending four hundred and eighty geographical miles; on the east 
side of New Holland are unbroken reefs of three hundred and 
fifty miles long; and between that and New Guinea a coral forma- 
tion of seven hundred miles in length. 

The process 6y which these great changes are effected is still 
going on extensively in the Pacific and Indian Seas, where multi- 
tudes of coral islands emerge from the waves, and shoals and reefs, 
where the rock-builders are ever busy, appear at small depths be- 
neath the water. 

How truly wonderful it is to know that the Polynesian Archi- 
pelago, now one of the great divisions of the globe, has its founda- 
tions formed of coral reefs, the spontaneous growth of once living 
animals ! As one generation of the coral-builders dies and leaves 
its chalky remains, another succeeds, until the mass of coral appears 
above the ocean, when the formation ceases, for it is only in that 
element the labourers can live. 



MARVELS OF THE CORAL FORMATION. 137. 

" Ye build ! ye build ! but ye enter not in, 
Like the tribes whom the desert devoured in their sin ; 
From the land of promise ye fade and die, 
Ere its verdure gleams on your wearied eye." 

One marvel ceases here, and another commences. " The vegeta- 
tion of the sea, cast on its surface, undergoes a chemical change ; 
the rains assist in filling up the little cells of the dead animals; the 
fowls of the air and the ocean find a resting-place, and assist in 
clothing the rocks ; mosses carpet the surface ; seed brought by 
birds, plants carried by the oceanic current, animalculae floating 
in the air live, propagate, and die, and are succeeded through 
the assistance their remains bestow by more advanced animal and 
vegetable life ; and thus generation after generation exist and 
perish, until at length the coral island becomes a Paradise, filled 
with the choicest exotics, the most beautiful birds, and delicious 
fruits." 

Here is a glowing theme for the imagination to dwell upon ! 
How wonderful to think that the surface of the globe is being 
changed by these diminutive living agents ; that in tropical climates 
they are encircling islands with belts of coral, enlarging their coasts, 
forming stupendous reefs, and working out the plans and the will 
of the great Architect of the Universe ! 

" We feel surprised," observes Mr. Darwin, in his " Journal of 
Researches," "when travellers tell us of the vast dimensions cf 
the Pyramids and other great ruins ; but how utterly insignificant 
are the greatest of these when compared to the mountains of stone 
accumulated by the agency of various minute and tender animals !" 

" Millions of millions thus from age to age, 
With simplest skill and toil unweariable, 
No moment and no movement unimprov'd, 
Laid line on line, on terrace terrace spread, 
To swell the heightening, brightening, gradual mound- 
By marvellous structure climbing towards the day." 




U 4 



CHAPTER XII. 
PERILS OF THE CORAL REEFS. 

IS Five hundred souls, in one instant of dread, 

Are hurried o'er the deck ; 
And fast the miserable ship 

Becomes a hapless wreck. 
Her keel hath struck on a hidden rock, 

Her planks are torn asunder, 
And down comes her mast with a reeling shock, 

And a hideous crash like thunder. 
Her sails are draggled in the brine 

That gladden'd late the skies, 
And her flag that kiss'd the fair moonshine, 

Down many a fathom lies. " 



Wilson. 




| HE vast coral reefs, which have been described in the 
preceding chapter, are often the source of great dangers 
to navigators; and numberless instances have occurred 
of entire or partial destruction of ships and heavy losses of life in 
consequence. One case, that happened some years ago in the 
Indian Seas, nearly proved fatal to the whole crew of a fine large 
ship called the " Cabalve." The story of this shipwreck, as re- 
lated in a letter to a friend by one of the surviving officers, is deeply 
interesting. The vessel was bound for Bombay, and was proceed- 
ing on its way at a quick rate, with every feeling of security in those 
on board, when one morning, between four and five o'clock (the 
weather being dark and cloudy), an alarm was given of " breakers 
ahead I" Every effort was instantly made to free the' vessel from 



SHIPWRECK ON THE CORAL REEF. 139 

her dangerous position, but in vain, for she struck on the coral 
reef, and the shock was so violent that every person was instantly 
on deck, with horror and amazement depicted upon every coun- 
tenance at what appeared to be certain destruction. The vessel 
soon became fixed on the coral reef, and the sea broke over her 
with tremendous violence, staving in the exposed side, washing 
through the hatchways, and tearing up the decks. 

" We were now," observes the officer alluded to, " uncertain of 
our distance from a place of safety : the surf broke over the vessel 
in a fearful cascade ; the crew despairing and clinging to her sides 
to avoid its violence, while the ship was breaking up with a rapidity 
and crashing noise, which, added to the roar of the breakers, 
drowned the voices of the officers. The masts were cut away to 
ease the ship, and the cutter cleared and launched in readiness. 
When the long-wished-for dawn at length broke upon us, instead 
of alleviating, it rather added to our distress. We found that the 
ship had run on the south-east extremity of a coral reef, surround- 
ing on the eastern side those sand-banks or islands in the Indian 
Ocean, called by the natives Carajos : the nearest of these was about 
three miles distant, but not the least appearance of verdure could 
be discovered, or the slightest trace of anything on which we might 
hope to subsist. In two or three places some rocks in the shape 
of pyramids appeared above the rest like distant sails, and were 
repeatedly cheered as such by the crew, until it was perceived that 
they had no motion, and the delusion vanished. The masts had 
fallen towards the reef, the ship having fortunately canted in that 
direction, and the boat was therefore protected in some measure 
from the surf. Our commander, whom a strong sense of misfortune 
had entirely deprived of presence of mind, was earnestly requested 
to get into the boat, but he would not, thinking it unsafe. He 
maintained his station on the mizzen-topmast that lay among the 
wreck, the surf which was rushing round the bow and stern con- 
tinually overwhelming him. I was myself close to him on the 
same spar, and in this situation we saw many of our shipmates 
meet an untimely end, being either dashed against the rocks or 
swept away by the breakers. 



?40 BREAK ING-UP OF THE VESSEL. 



" The large cutter full of officers and men now cleared a passage 
through the mass of wreck, and being furnished with oars, watched 
the proper moment and pushed off for the coral reef, which she 
fortunately gained in safety, but they were all washed out of her 
in an instant by a tremendous surf; yet out of more than sixty 
persons whom she contained, only one man was drowned. Our 
captain, seeing this, wished he had taken advice which was now 
of no use. Finding I could not longer maintain myself on the 
same spar, and seeing the captain in a very exhausted state, I 
entreated him to return to the wreck; but he replied that since we 
must all inevitably perish, I should not think of him, but seek my 
own preservation. An enormous breaker now burst on us with 
tremendous violence, so that I scarcely noticed what had occurred 
to him afterwards, being washed down by successive seas. 

"At length, aftermost desperate efforts, I was thrown on the reef, 
half drowned and severely cut by the sharp coral, when I silently 
offered up thanks for my preservation, and crawling up the reef, 
waved my hand to encourage those who remained behind to make 
an effort. The captain, however, was not to be seen, and most of 
the others had returned to the wreck, and were employed in getting 
the small cutter into the water, which they accomplished, and safely 
reached the shore. About noon, when we had all left the ship, she 
was entirely broken up. The whole of the upper works — from the 
after-part of the forecastle to the break of the poop-deck — had 
separated, and was driving in towards the reef. Most of the lighter 
cargo had floated out of her: bales of cloth, cases of wine, pun- 
cheons of spirits, barrels of gunpowder, hogsheads of beer, and other 
articles, lay strewed on the shore, together with a chest of tools. 
Finding the men beginning to commit the usual excesses, we stove 
in the heads of the spirit-casks to prevent mischief, and endeavoured 
to direct their attention to the general benefit. The tide was flow- 
ing fast, and we saw that the reef must soon be covered ; we there- 
fore conveyed the boats to a place of safety, and filling them with 
all the provisions that could be collected, proceeded to the highest 
sand-bank, as the only place which held out the remotest chance of 
safetv. 



ESCAPE TO A DESERT ISLAND. I4t 

" Our progress was attended with the most excruciating pain 1 
ever endured, my feet being cut to the bones with the rocks, and 
my back blistered by the sun, exhausted by fatigue, up to the waist 
— sometimes to the neck — in water, and being obliged frequently to 
swim. Seeing, however, that several had reached the highest sand- 
bank, lighted a fire, and were employed in erecting a tent from the 
cloth and small spars which had floated up, I felt my spirits re- 
vived, and had strength sufficient to reach the desired spot, when 
I was invited to partake of a shark which had just been caught by 
the people. Having set a watch to announce the approach of the 
sea, lest it should cover us unawares, I sank exhausted on the sand, 
and fell into a sound sleep. I awoke in the morning, stiff with the 
exertions of the previous day, yet feeling grateful to Providence that 
I was still alive. 

" The people now collected together to ascertain who of the 
crew had perished, when sixteen were missing : the captain, surgeon's 
assistant, and fourteen seamen. We divided our men into parties, 
each headed by an officer : some were sent to the wreck and along 
the beach in search of provisions, others to roll up the hogsheads 
of beer and butts of water that had floated on shore ; but the 
greater number were employed in hauling the two cutters up, which 
the carpenters were directed to repair. 

" By the time it was dark we had collected about eighty pieces 
of salt pork, ten hogsheads of beer, three butts of water, several 
bottles of wine, and many articles of use and value, particularly 
three sextants and a quadrant. Four live pigs and five live sheep 
had managed to- swim ashore through the surf. We first began 
upon the dead stock, serving out two ounces to each, and half a 
pint of beer for the day. Nothing but brackish water could be 
obtained by digging in the sand. We collected all the provisions 
together near the tent, and formed a store-house, setting an officer 
to guard them from plunder, to which, indeed, some of the evil 
characters were disposed, but as they were threatened with instant 
death if detected, they were soon deterred. The second night was 
passed like the first, all being huddled together under one large 
tent; the more robust, however, soon began to make separate 



142 IMMINENT DANGER ON A CORAL REEK 

tents for themselves, and divided into messes as on board. A 
staff was next erected, and a red flag hoisted upon, it as a signal 
to any vessel that might be passing. Of fish there was a great 
variety, but we had few facilities for catching them ; so that, upon 
the whole, we were nearly half starved. The bank on which we 
lived was about two miles in circumference at low water ; the high 
tides would sometimes leave us scarcely half a mile of sand, and 
often approached close to the tents ; and if the wind had blown 
from the westward, or shifted only a few points, we must have 
been inevitably swept away. Providence was, however, pleased 
to preserve us, one hundred and twenty in number, to return to 
our native country. In seven days after our stay upon the barren 
coral reef, the largest boat was repaired, and the officers thought 
it advisable to dispatch her for relief to the Isle of France, distant 
about four hundred miles. The superior officers, finding it impos- 
sible to leave the crew, gave the charge of her to the purser. We 
furnished him with two sextants, a navigation book, sails, oars, 
and log-line. Six officers and eight men, who perfectly understood 
the management of the boat, joined him. In four days from leaving 
the coral reef the cutter reached Mauritius, and three days after 
the purser returned by the Government vessels the c Magician ' 
and ' Challenger.' We were taken on board, after having passed 
sixteen days on the reef, exposed to the greatest distress of body 
and mind." 

' Such is a graphic account of a fearful shipwreck on a barren 
coral reef, from one of the survivors among the crew. You can 
thus form an idea of the dangers to which seamen are exposed by 
these colossal works of tiny polyps : 

"For often the dauntless mariner knows 
That he must sink beneath, 
Where the diamond on trees of coral grows 
In the emerald halls of death." 



YWS 










mm>' 




<^fe? 



CHAPTER XIII. 

INSTINCT OF THE ROCK-BUILDERS— CORAL 
FISHERIES. 

*' Who taught the natives of the field and wood 
To shun their poison or to choose their food ? 
Prescient, the tides and tempests to withstand, 
Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand ?" 

Pope. 




MUST not omit to tell you that these living atoms, the 
rock-builders of the ocean, exhibit a wonderful instinct 
in the construction of their dwellings. To protect these 
from the violent storms by which the waters of the deep are fre- 
quently agitated, they erect a breastwork, which effectually shields 
them from wind and wave. In the early stages of their operations 
they work perpendicularly, so that the highest part of the coral 
wall on reaching the surface is on the windward side, and affords 
a protection to the busy labourers in their operations. You will be 
surprised when I inform you that these breastworks, or break- 
waters, will resist more powerful seas than if formed of granite, 
rising as they do frequently from a depth of a thousand or fifteen 
hundred feet, and adapted in a way that no human skill or foresight 
could equal to the utmost powers of the heavy billows that con- 
tinually lash against them. 

How wonderful is this instinct and design of self-preservation 
in insects so exceedingly minute as the coral-workers ! 

Another observation I may make on this subject is, that in one 



144 VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS OF CORAL. 

species a remarkable arrangement is found : the upper openings of 
the cells in which they live have a vase-like form, shutting with 
a lid : when the animal wishes to expand itself, it opens the lid 
like a trap-door, and protrudes itself; and when it re-contracts 
itself and retreats, the lid falls, and closes the aperture so exactly 
that the animal is perfectly protected. 

The common Red Coral which is used for many ornamental 
purposes, and is so much admired for its fine colour, is chiefly 
obtained from the Mediterranean, in some parts of which extensive 
"fisheries" are carried on. It is brought up from the depths of 
the sea by means of a kind of grappling apparatus dragged after a 
boat, the pieces being broken from the bottom by beams of wood 
which are sunk by weights, and then entangled among hemp. 
Great care is necessary to preserve the pieces from being lacerated. 
Red coral has a shrub-like branching form, and grows to the 
height of about a foot, with the thickness of a little finger. Much 
of the coral obtained from the Mediterranean is sent to India, 
where it is much prized by the natives. Many of the arms and 
horse-caparisons of the Oriental chiefs are studded with this beau- 
tiful ornament. < 

Red coral is also found in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, 
Messina, the Dardanelles, and a few other places. The French 
and the Sicilians are the only people who make coral-fishing a 
regular source of interest. As this precious substance requires 
eight or ten years to come to any perfection by the labours of its 
industrious architects, the spots where it is fished are divided each 
into ten portions, and- only one of these is fished in the year, so 
that each may remain to "grow" during the time necessary to 
bring it to maturity. 

Black Coral is most esteemed, but it is scarce : the red, white, 
and yellow are chiefly used for ornamental purposes, and for a 
particular plaything, which probably may have amused you when 
an infant and cutting your teeth. The Pink Coral is esteemed for 
its scarcity. 

The ingenuity of man continually exerted to imitate nature, and 
frequently with great success, is practised in the fabrication oi 



SUPERNATURAL VIRTUES OF CORAL. 145 

false coral, made with powdered marble and fish-glue, and coloured 
with vermilion and red lead. 

You will not be surprised to hear, considering its beauty and 
rarity, that coral was formerly supposed to possess some singular 
qualities. It was applied to stop bleeding, and Ovid tells us the 
reason for this belief, and, indeed, how red coral originated. The 
story will make you smile and wonder how such nonsense could 
be believed. Perseus, one of the heroes in the mythology of 
Greece, having cut off the head of Medusa, the only one of the 
Gorgons who was subject to mortality, laid it on a tuft of growing 
plants on the sea-side, which, imbibing the blood, became red and 
petrified. The sea-nymphs marvelled much (as well they might) 
at the transformation, and amused themselves by breaking off frag- 
ments and casting them into the sea. Each piece so thrown be- 
came, it is said, the seed of fresh coral. 

The ancients considered this ocean treasure as a charm against 
the sting of a scorpion. Thus Orpheus says : 

"The coral, too, in Perseus' story named, 
Against the scorpion is of might proclaimed. " 

Coral beads were anciently worn in India as sacred amulets or 
charms. The Romans tied little branches round childrens' necks 
to keep off the influence of the " evil eye/' a superstition which 
had also many believers in the middle ages among our own 
countrymen, and which still exists in some foreign countries. 

Coral was said to preserve houses from the effects of thunder- 
storms, and to be of much finer colour when worn by men than by 
women. Even at the present time there are people so credulous 
as to believe that coral necklaces become pale when the wearer is 
about to be ill. There is no doubt that coral loses its colour by 
time and exposure, and this may have given rise to this superstition. 
The small pointed branches, mounted with a ring at one end for 
suspension, are. extensively manufactured at Naples as " charms ; M 
and Ferdinand I., King of that country, a most bigoted monarch, 
was a devout believer in their efficacy, and used to point the coral 
towards any one whom he suspected of having a malicious influence. 

10 



146 CORAL A WONDER OF THE OCEAN. 

Such, my young friends, is a brief, yet, I trust, not uninteresting 
•account of what is essentially one of the "wonders of the ocean/' 
and yet but an atom in a multitude of marvels that no tongue can 
number and no imagination can conceive : an imprint of Almighty 

Power — 

" One Spirit, — His 
Who wore the plaited thorns with bleeding brows,— 
"Rules universal nature," 






CHAPTER XIV. 

PEARLS. 

" Ocean's gems, the purest 
Of Nature's works ! What days of weary journeyings, 
What sleepless nights, what toils on land and sea, 
Are borne by men to gain thee ! " 

MONG the rare and beautiful objects of creation may be 
mentioned Pearls, which rank with the most valuable 
of precious gems, and are highly prized as ornamental 
appendages by the rich and the noble in all countries. 

While admiring these jewels, you may not know, perhaps, at 
what perils and cost of life they are obtained, for it is necessary 
to seek for them in the depths of the ocean, and although the 
divers employed for this purpose are very strong and expert, still 
in the Indian Sea and the Eastern Archipelago, where the true 
pearl-oysters are found, sharks are numerous, and it is necessary 
to take every precaution against those voracious monsters. This 
occupation was formerly considered so dangerous that only con- 
demned criminals were thus employed, but many thousand persons 
now obtain a livelihood by these means in the Persian Gulf and 
at Ceylon. At one time, when the Dutch had possession of this 
beautiful island, the number of large pearls obtained there was 
considerable. 

These pearl-divers are a hardy race of men, singularly adapted 
to their hazardous occupation, and very superstitious ; for before 

JO— % 



148 PEARL-DIVERS AND SHARK-CHARMERS. 

commencing operations, they consult the li shark-charmer," a wise- 
acre who pretends to have the power of preserving his dupes from 
the angry jaws of the great sea-scourge, and makes a good living 
by it, the office being handed down from father to son as here- 
ditary. The divers have such confidence in their powers, or spells, 
chat they will not descend to the bottom of the deep without 
knowing that one of the enchanters is present in the expedition. 
Two of the " charmers " are constantly employed, one going out 
regularly in the head pilot's boat, while the other performs certain 
ceremonies on shore, such as consulting the auguries, which, if 
auspicious, ensure the divers in their perilous submarine occupa- 
tions by closing the mouths of the sharks at the word of command. 
The " charmer " is shut up in a room where nobody can see him, 
from the period of the sailing of the boats until their return. He 
has before him a brass basin filled with water, containing one male 
and one female fish made of silver. If any accident should happen 
from a shark at sea, it is believed that one of these fishes is seen 
to bite the other. The divers also say that if the conjuror is dis- 
satisfied, he has the power of making the sharks attack them, on 
which account he is sure of receiving liberal presents daily. 

The Gulf of Manaar, where the pearls are found (and which 
separates Ceylon from the continent of India on the north-west), 
abounds in sharks; and, however the divers may consider their 
lives " charmed/* the risks are lessened by the sea-monsters being 
alarmed at the unusual number of boats, the noise of the crews, 
and the constant descending of the baskets for the shells. It is 
not improbable that the dark skins of the divers are also some 
protection. It seems that the pearl-divers in the Persian Gulf in 
former times were so conscious of this advantage of colour, that 
they were accustomed to blacken their limbs in order to baffle their 
powerful enemy. This is related by Massoudi, one of the earliest 
of Arabian geographers, who adds, "that the divers filled their 
cars with cotton steeped in oil, and compressed their nostrils with 
a piece of tortoise-shell." 

The pearl fishery of the Bahrem Islands (in the Persian Gulf) pro- 
duces a most abundant supply of these ocean gems, the produce 



METHOD PURSUED BY THE CINGALESE DIVERS. 149 

of a two months' season sometimes realizing nearly one hundred 
thousand pounds of our money. Persians are chiefly engaged in 
this pursuit, and the divers belong to that nation. 

The method pursued by the Cingalese divers is very simple. 
They proceed in boats to the place of operation at the season, 
which lasts about two months, commencing in February and end- 
ing in April. Each boat contains about twenty men, half of whom 
are divers, while the others row the boats, and assist their com- 
panions in reaching the surface of the water after diving. Five of 
the divers descend at the time, and when they come up, the other 
five take their turn ; for I should tell you that the fatigue and ex- 
haustion of the body is very great in continuing under water; and 
a minute — in some cases a minute and a half or nearly two minutes 
— is about the utmost time these men can sustain their breath. 
Many divers suffer severely from over-taxing their powers of endur- 
ance, and bloodshot eyes and spitting of blood are common to 
them. It is to be hoped that the modern improvements in diving- 
bells and suitable apparatus for divers will be much more gene- 
rally adopted than they have been in a few places, that life may 
be rendered more secure, and other distressing consequences be 
obviated. 

To facilitate the descent of the diver into the water, a stone 
weighing about twenty pounds is suspended over the side of the 
boat, with a loop attached to it, in which he inserts his foot; a 
bag of network is attached to his toes ; his right hand grasps the 
rope, and after inhaling a full breath, he presses his nostrils with 
his left hand. He now raises his body as high as possible above 
the water to give force to his descent, and liberating the stone 
from its fastenings, he sinks rapidly below the surface. As soon 
as he reaches the bottom, the stone is drawn up, and the diver, 
throwing himself on his face, collects into his bag as many oysters 
as he can. This, on a signal, is hauled to the surface, the diver 
springing to the rope as it is drawn up. The sea, at the oyster- 
beds, is generally from twenty-four to sixty feet deep. The num- 
ber of oysters thus collected varies: sometimes several thousand 
are obtained in one day, and at other times a few hundred only, 



ISO THE PEARL ISLANDS. 

The oysters are landed from the boats, and are placed underground 
to putrefy, and it is amidst such a mass of corruption that the pearl, 

"Purest of Nature's works," 
is obtained. 

The pearl-fishers in ancient times used to place the shells in 
vessels filled with salt, and leave them until all the fish were dis- 
solved, the gems remaining at the bottom. The ordinary operation 
now is, that as soon as putrefaction is sufficiently advanced, the 
oysters are placed in a trough, and sea-water is thrown over them. 
They are then shaken and washed. Inspectors stand at each end 
of the trough, to see that the labourers secrete none of the pearls, 
and others are in the rear to examine the shells thrown out. The 
workmen are not allowed to raise their hands to their mouths 
while washing the pearls, lest they might attempt to swallow some. 
Sometimes the pearls, instead of adhering to the shells as is usually 
the case, are in the bodies of the oysters, which are boiled before 
being thrown aside as useless. The number of pearls in a shell 
differs : one may contain a considerable number, while hundreds 
are without any. 

To give you an idea of the extent to which the pearl fishery in 
Ceylon has been carried for several ages, the shore in some parts 
of the island has been raised to the height of many feet by enor- 
mous mounds of shells, millions having been flung into heaps that 
extend to the distance of many miles. 

At the Pearl Islands, near the Isthmus of Panama, the divers 
use a very simple method of obtaining the oysters. They traverse 
the bay in canoes that hold eight men, all of whom dive in the 
water to a depth of from fifty to sixty feet, where they remain 
sometimes nearly two minutes, during which they collect all the 
oysters they can in their hands, and rise to deposit them in the 
canoes, repeating the operation for several hours. 

In Sweden the oysters are taken with a pair of long tongs. The 
fishermen are in small boats, painted white on the bottom, which 
reflects to a great depth, and enables them to see the oysters and 
seize them. 

The most beautiful and costly pearls are obtained from the East, 



HOW PEARLS ARE FORMED. 151 

and are called "Oriental;" the colour of those found in Ceylon is 
generally a bluish silvery white, but they are met with of several 
other hues. Those from the Persian Gulf are of great purity and 
richness. The preparation of the pearls for market occupies a 
considerable number of the inhabitants of Ceylon. After being 
thoroughly cleaned, they are rounded and polished with a powder 
made of the pearls themselves, and arranged into classes accord- 
ing to their various sizes and quality. They are then drilled and 
strung together, the largest being generally sent to India, where 
they are highly prized, while the smaller ones are forwarded to 
Europe. The operation of drilling is a very delicate one, and the 
black people are very expert in it. It is done with a wooden 
machine in the form of an inverted cone, in the upper flat surface 
of which are pits to receive the pearls. The holes are made by 
spindles of various sizes, which revolve in a wooden head by the 
action of a bow-handle, to which they are attached. During the 
operation (which is done by one hand, while the other presses on 
the machine), the pearls are moistened occasionally, and the whole 
is done with astonishing rapidity. 

My young readers are no doubt anxious to learn how the pearl 
is formed within the oyster-shell. This is a subject that has been 
much debated in ancient and modern times. You will be amused 
by the explanation given by the illustrious Pliny (who died in the 
year of our Saviour 79), one of the most enlightened of the old 
philosophers. He says that " the pearl was produced by the dews 
of heaven falling into the open shells at the breeding-time. The 
quality of the pearl varied according to the amount of the dew 
imbibed, being lustrous if that were pure, dull if it were foul; 
cloudy weather spoilt the colour, lightning stopped the growth, 
and thunder made the shell-fish unproductive, and to eject hollow 
husks called bubbles." 

The same naturalist also relates a story how the shoals of pearl- 
oysters had " a king, distinguished by his age and size, exactly as 
bees have a queen, wonderfully expert in keeping bis subjects out 
of harm's way, but if the divers once succeeded in catching him, 
the rest straying about blindly, fell an easy prey. Although defended 



152 CHINESE METHOD OF PROCURING PEARLS. 

by a body-guard of sharks, and dwelling among the rocks of the 
abyss, they cannot be preserved from ladies' ears." 

These are very pretty and fanciful ideas, as were many fictions 
of the pagans, and our own poet Moore has alluded to them in 
one of his sweet melodies : 

"And precious the tear as that rain from the sky 
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea." 

Some naturalists have suggested that pearls are the unfructified 
eggs of the oyster, others that the jewel is a morbid concretion 
produced by the endeavour of the animal in the shell to fill up 
holes ; the general opinion, however, seems to prevail thus : most 
shelly animals which are aquatic are provided with a fluid secretion 
with which they line their dwellings to render them smooth and 
polished for their tenderly-formed bodies. This fine even lining 
you must have frequently remarked in shells of every description. 
The fluid is laid in extremely thin semi-transparent threads, which 
gives the interior of the shell the beautiful play of colours you 
must often have observed. Now, to account for the. pearl in the 
shell, I must tell you that small rounded portions are formed in 
the lining, which are supposed to be the result of accident, such 
as grains of sand or other substances getting into the shell, and, 
irritating the animal inside, causes it, by an instinct of nature, to 
cover the cause of offence, not having the power to remove it. 
As the fluid goes on regularly to supply the growth and wear of 
the shell, the prominences continue to increase, and being more 
brilliant than the rest of the shell, they become a pearl, a composi- 
tion of carbonate of lime and a little animal matter. 

If a pearl is cut tranversely and observed through a microscope, 
it will be found to consist of minute layers, resembling the rings 
which denote the ages of certain trees when cut in a similar 
manner. 

Those clever people the Chinese, who are never at a loss for 
expedients, are in the habit of laying a string with five or six small 
pearls, separated by knots, inside the shells, when the fish are 
exposing themselves to the sun. These, after some years, are taken 



PEARLS IN ANCIENT TIMES. 153 

out, and are found to be very large fine pearls. The same ingeni- 
ous people also introduce into the shell of a mussel different 
substances, such as mother-of-pearl, the beautiful white enamel 
which forms the greater part of the substance of most oyster-shells, 
fixed to wires, which thus become coated with a more brilliant 
material. Another practice among the Chinese, equally clever, is 
to serve the purpose of a deception upon the credulous. They 
place small metal images of their god Buddha in the shells, which 
are soon covered with a pearly secretion, and become united to 
the shells. These are sold as miraculous proofs of the truth of 
their worship. The Chinese are also said to employ a means of 
procuring pearls artificially by the introduction of shot between the 
mouth of the animal and its shell. 

I must not omit to tell you that the pearl-oyster which has been 
the subject of my remarks is not the only mollusc which produces 
pearls : an oyster with a thin transparent shell, which is used in 
China and elsewhere as a substitute for glass windows, produces 
small pearls, as also the fresh-water mussel of our own country, 
pinna, a genus of the same family with the pearl-mussel, and even 
in limpets. 

In reading the history of our own country you will find that 
pearls were found on its coast in early times. Indeed, the Roman 
historian Suetonius (who was born about seventy years before the 
birth of our Saviour) has recorded in his " Lives of the Twelve 
Caesars" that the principal motive for inducing Julius Caesar to 
invade Britain was the fame of its pearls, and he is said to have 
taken to Rome, as a trophy of his conquest, a corslet richly adorned 
with British pearls, which he placed in a temple dedicated to 
Venus. 

The ancients were extravagantly fond of these beautiful jewels : 
necklaces, bracelets, and earrings were worn in profusion ; a string 
of pearls was estimated by a Roman writer at about eight thousand 
pounds of our money ; the single pearl which Cleopatra dissolved 
and swallowed was valued at nearly eighty-one thousand pounds ; 
and a similar act of folly is reported in later times, in the reign of 
our Queen Elizabeth, when Sir Thomas Gresham, one of London's 



t$4 LARGE PEARLS. 



merchant princes, reduced a pearl to powder worth fifteen thousand 
pounds, and drank it in a glass of wine to the health of his sove- 
reign, in consequence of a wager with the Spanish ambassador 
that he would give a more costly dinner than the other. Quite as 
absurd was the notion in former times that powdered pearls were 
unfailing remedies in all stomach complaints. 

Pearls are esteemed according to their size, colour, form, and 
lustre : the largest, usually about the dimensions of a small walnut, 
are called " paragons " and are very rare; those the size of a small 
cherry are next in rarity, and are called " diadem " or head pearls. 
They receive names also according to their form, whether quite 
round, semicircular and drum-form, or that of an ear-drop, pear, 
onion, or as they are otherwise irregularly shaped. The small 
pearls are termed " ounce pearls/' on account of their being sold 
by weight, and the very smallest " seed pearls." 

The largest pearl on record is one, pear-shaped, brought from 
India in 1620, by Gongibus de Calais, and sold to Philip IV. 
of Spain. It weighed four hundred and eighty grains. The mer- 
chant, when asked by the monarch how he could venture to risk 
all his fortune in one little article, replied with great tact, " because 
he knew there was a King of Spain to buy it of him." This pearl 
is said to be now in the possession of the princely family of 
Yousoppoff, in Russia. 

Runjeet Sing, the former possessor of the famous Koh-i-Noor 
diamond, had a string of pearls which was considered nearly equal 
in value to the " Mountain of Light." They were about three 
hundred in number, and the size of small marbles, all choice 
pearls, round and perfect both in shape and colour. Two hours 
before he died he sent for all his jewels, and gave the magnificent 
string of pearls to a Hindoo temple. 





CHAPTER XV. 

THE VEGETATION OF THE OCEAN', 

"Call us not weeds, but flowers of the sea, 
For lovely, and gay, and bright-tinted are we, 
Our blush is as deep as the rose of thy bowers, 
Then call us not weeds, — we are ocean's gay flowers." 




OU are, no doubt, well acquainted with the voyages oi 
Christopher Columbus, who added a new hemisphere 
to our globe. He was born in Genoa about the year 
1435. This very eminent man was the son of a wool-comber, but 
having at the age of fourteen taken to a seafaring life, he became 
the celebrated discoverer of whom you read in every geography 
and history of the world. However, what concerns the present 
chapter is to remind you how, in his search for a new world, he 
encountered one of the greatest marvels of ocean vegetation — a 
garden of enormous extent in the waste of waters, which perplexed 
and terrified his timid seamen. "When" as Robertson, in his 
"History of America," relates, "about four hundred leagues to 
the west of the Canaries, he found the sea so covered with weeds, 
that it resembled a meadow of vast extent, and in some places they 
were so thick as to retard the motions of the vessel. This strange 
appearance occasioned new alarm and disquiet to the sailors." 
They imagined that they had now arrived at the utmost boundary 
of the navigable ocean ; that these floating weeds would obstruct 
their farther progress, and concealed dangerous rocks, or some 



156 THE GRASSY SEA. 

large tract of land that had sunk, they knew not how, in that place. 
Columbus endeavoured to persuade them that what alarmed ought 
rather to encourage them, as it was a sign of their approaching 
land. At the same time a brisk gale arose, and carried them for- 
ward : several land-birds were seen hovering about the ship, and 
directed their flight towards the west; a whale, also, was seen 
heaving up his huge form in the distance, which Columbus affirmed 
was a favourable indication of the neighbourhood of land. The 
desponding crew resumed some degree of spirit, and began to 
entertain fresh hopes. 

The marine vegetation that threatened to impede the course of 
the adventurous Columbus was the Gulf-weed, so termed from its 
great abundance in the Gulf of Mexico. The Portuguese call the 
waters thus covered the " Grassy Sea," for the surface, during 
several days' sailing, is literally carpeted with the weed. Here 
the beautiful fishes of the warmer latitudes, 

" with fry innumerable, swarm," 

and find a refuge from their relentless pursuers in the ocean ; and 
the whole mass, extending many miles in space, affords food and 
shelter to an infinity of small marine animals. 

In the Atlantic Ocean these sea-weeds cover an expanse of two 
hundred and sixty thousand square miles, a vast mass of vegetable 
matter that no other similarly furnished tract of open water is 
known to produce. 

These sea-weeds are occasionally thrown up by currents on our 
own shores, and you may know them by the cluster of air-vessels 
that the Sargassum or Gulf-weed bears, and which, from their 
appearance, have given them the name of " tropical grapes." 

How marvellous, my young friends, is this vast provision of 
Nature in the ocean depths for the wants and nourishment of 
animal life, all created for wise purposes by the Great Being 

" Who sleeps not, — is not weary; in whose designs 
No flaw deforms, no difficulty thwarts, 
And whose beneficence no change exhausts ! " 

Innumerable animalculae (small or minute objects, visible or in- 



VAST SUBMARINE FORESTS. l$7 

visible to the naked eye), the chief food of the whale and also of 
many species of fish eaten by man, derive their sustenance from 
sea-weeds. Myriads upon myriads of eggs of fishes find security 
in this tangled mass of sea-plants, and the young fish are sheltered 
there until they acquire strength to commit themselves to the 
water. It has been remarked that "the vegetable kingdom in 
the sea is no barren spot in the garden of Nature, but in usefulness 
and abundance it is not inferior to the most favoured spots on 
land." But the character of sea-weeds is very different to land- 
plants : the former, supported in a liquid of greater specific gravity 
than themselves, do not require the woody fibres which are neces- 
sary for land-plants, except such as support themselves by climb- 
ing ; and, as they derive their nourishment from the water which 
covers them, they do not need the continuous vessels which are 
so necessary to land-plants for their growth and life. This is ex- 
plained by the simple experiment of placing one portion of sea- 
weed in water, and exposing the other part to the air, when the 
latter will speedily dry and wither, while the former retains its 
freshness. 

Again, the trees, and flowers, and shrubs which adorn our gar- 
dens require, as you know, the bright beams of the sun to warm 
them into life and beauty ; but the plants that thrive in the depths 
of the ocean are not dependent for their existence on light, for 
only a feeble ray can reach many of them in their rocky homes far 
beneath the surface. 

Humboldt mentions the fact of a sea-weed of a fine grass-green 
colour being brought up from a depth of one hundred and ninety- 
two feet, where it had vegetated, though the light that had reached 
it could not have been more than that afforded by half the light 
of an ordinary candle. 

Who can conceive the mighty operations of the Ail-Powerful 
Creator in the depths of the ocean ? What transcendent wonders 
lie hidden in the waste of waters ! Let us imagine to ourselves 
vast submarine forests, which we know to exist — an almost bound- 
less extent of vegetation, which lives, thrives, and decays, unseen 
by mortal eyes— and how insignificant is human comprehension ! 



153 ENORMOUS GROWTH OF SEA- WEEDS. 

"Viewing these tribes of sea-weed," says Dr. Greville, in his 
"Algae Britannica," "in the most careless way, as a system of 
subaqueous vegetation, we see the depths of ocean shadowed with 
submarine groves, often of vast extent, intermixed with meadows, 
as it were, of the most lively hues, while the trunks of the larger 
species, like the great trees of the tropics, are loaded with innu- 
merable minute kinds, as fine as silk, or transparent as a mem- 
brane." 

How singular the contrast, also, between the gigantic " weeds " 
that line the ocean depths and spread forth their knotted shoots 
upon the surface of the water, and the small, beautifully coloured, 
delicate plants that cling to the rocks, and rival in loveliness the 
choicest flowers of our gardens ! 

" Art's finest pencil could but rudely mock 
The rich, gay sea-weeds 'broider'd on a rock ; 
And those bright watery rocks, he would explore, 
Small excavations on a rocky shore, 
That seem like fairy baths, or mimic wells, . 
Richly embossed with choicest weeds and shells, 
As if her trinkets Nature chose." 

On the shores of the North Pacific you would see the Nereo- 
cystus, with a slender stem, upwards of three hundred feet long, 
bearing at its extremity a large air-vessel six or seven feet in length, 
shaped as a barrel, and crowned with a tuft of upwards of fifty 
forked leaves, each thirty to forty feet long, forming the fishing- 
grounds of the sea-otter, who can seek his prey with greater cer- 
tainty amidst the shade of the enormous leaves. 

In the Antarctic regions the growth of sea-weeds is remarkable. 
The " Tree" sea-weed, according to Dr. Hooker, rises from the 
ocean with a huge stem or trunk eight or ten feet in height, and 
the thickness of a human thigh. The ends of the branches give 
out leaves two or three inches broad, which, when in the water, 
hang down like the boughs of a willow. Thousands of these 
aquatic trees, uprooted by the currents, are often mistaken for 
driftwood, and are collected for fuel. Darwin mentions some sea- 
weeds that grow on the rocks in the Arctic seas, which,, though of 



BEAUTY OF THE SMALLER VARIETIES. 159 

prodigious length, instead of being spread along the bottom of the 
ocean, are in part floated on the surface by means of the numerous 
air-vessels they contain. These gigantic sea-plants are sometimes 
fifteen hundred feet in length. So full of air-vessels are they, that 
they look like a honeycomb. 1 

Dr. Hooker mentions that one species of sea-weed in the Ant- 
arctic regions, in its horizontal growth at the surface of the ocean, 
ranges between two hundred and seven hundred feet in length; 
and that at the Falkland Islands the beach is lined for miles with 
entangled cables of this weed, much thicker than the human body, 
i Opposed to these gigantic marine plants we have multitudes of 
smaller growth, combining the most delicate, beautiful, and curious 
characteristics of form and colour. Not to tire your memory with 
hard names, I will mention a sea-weed you may have probably seen 
— the Water Flannel, which waves backwards and forwards like 
th e pendulum of a clock ; and I have no doubt you have often, 
when at the sea-side, enjoyed the fun of cracking the air-vessels of 
the Bladder-weed, and pulled to pieces the thready weeds that 
children call "sea-silk." The sea-coasts present an exhaustless 
variety of pleasure derived from sea-weeds. There you may find 
the Whip-lash, which grows from thirty to forty feet in length, 
and is used for fish-lines in Scotland. You may have found the 
Net-weed, which spreads its delicate interlaced threads like a web 
in the water ; and you would meet with the feathery Callithamnion 
(a name derived from Greek words signifying " beautiful" and 
" a little shrub "), one of the most lovely of sea-weeds, of a bright, 
fine, rosy-red colour; the branches divided like the teeth of a comb. 
Then there is the Fern-leaf sea-weed, another attractive plant, and 
the splendid Fan-weed, representing a collection of hundreds of 
beautiful little fans, every one of which, if minutely examined, is 
of exquisite workmanship. On the southern coast of our country 
you would find a common shore -plant of the tropical seas, the 
Peacock's Tail, another lovely sea-weed. When growing, the fronds 
are rolled up into cups, while the delicate fibres with which they 
are bordered reflect the most glorious tints. Then there are the 
curious Sea-thongs or Girdles, which you may have often seen on 



160 COLOURS OF SEA-PLANTS. 

the coast, and which, when taken out of the water and held by 
the stem, resemble a flag-staff and streamers. 

The varieties of form and substance in sea-plants are also highly 
interesting subjects for contemplation: some are like masses of 
jelly, others are elastic like India-rubber ; many are tough as leather, 
others firm as wood ; some have delicate transparent leaves, others 
have thick, finely-veined, or nerveless leaves. 

The plants of the ocean gardens can vie also in glowing tints 
with many of our most attractive land-flowers : 

•' The Hand which adorned the sweet perfumed parterre 
Did our fringe-like and fanciful dresses prepare, 
As pendent we hang round the coralline caves, 
Or float our light branches beneath the green waves, 
Or twine 'midst the gems of the watery deep, 
Or climb up the rocks, or in modesty creep. 
Could you view all the beauties of which we might boast^ 
How varied our forms and our tints on each coast, 
You would surely declare that the boon should be ours 
Henceforth to assume the high title of flowers" 

The natural colours of many sea-plants are exceedingly beautiful 
when viewed in their native element ; but exposure to the sun and 
air — unless they are preserved with the greatest care and delicacy 
— causes them to fade. Those of the red species, which abound 
chiefly in the temperate zone, acquire their richest tints in the 
deepest water. The plants of an olive colour are mostly found in 
the neighbourhood of the tropics, while the green species princi- 
pally inhabit the Polar seas. But, besides the colours I have men- 
tioned, there are countless varieties of other shades. 

Having alluded to the beauty and richness of ocean vegetation, 
I will now mention its usefulness, in addition to the shelter and 
nourishment it affords to the inhabitants of the deep — 

" Invisible, 
Amid the floating verdure millions stray." 

They soften the currents of rolling waters, and lessen the violence 
with which the waves would, otherwise, break upon the shores of 
the land 



USE OF SEA-WEEDS FOR FOOD. 161 

The distinguished naturalist, Charles Darwin, alludes to the 
value of sea-weeds to those who traverse the ocean : " I believe, 
during the voyage of the ' Beagle ' and ' Adventure/ not one rock 
near the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this 
floating w r eed. The good services it thus affords to vessels navi- 
gating near this stormy land (Terra del Fuego) is evident, and KeS 
certainly saved many from being wrecked." 

And now let us consider the use of sea-wa^ds for food. The 
value of these in many parts of the world is very great ; the Chinese 
especially are the largest consumers of any nation, and have various 
ingenious methods of preparing them for the table. Ceylon Moss, 
formerly much esteemed, is the produce of an esculent sea-weed 
gathered on the western coast of Ceylon, and possesses many nu- 
tritious qualities. Carrageen Moss is a sea-weed much used for 
food in Ireland ; it is also frequently employed instead of isinglass 
for making soups and jellies. In Bavaria it serves for clarifying 
beer. The young stalks of the Tangle-weeds \ when well boiled 
and served up with pepper and vinegar, are very wholesome. One 
species grows to the length of twenty feet. 

You may have remarked on the sea-shore a pretty weed resem- 
bling in shape the palm of a hand, with leaves like fingers growing 
around it. This is popularly called Dulse, and is eaten both raw 
and roasted, the taste resembling that of cooked oysters. This is 
also a favourite food of lobsters, crabs, and other shell-fish. The 
Icelanders have a particular relish for this sea-weed, and prepare it 
by drying, when it gives out a white powdery substance, which is 
sweet and palatable. Cattle are also very fond of dulse, especially 
sheep, for which reason it is often called "sheep's dulse." These 
animals seek it eagerly on the sea-shore, and are sometimes carried 
away by the tide in their eagerness to obtain it In Kamtchatka 
it is used for making a fermented beverage. 

The marine vegetable called Laver, so much esteemed in various 
parts of England as a relish for the table, is a species of sea-weed, 
stewed and served as a sauce. 

Having alluded to the value of sea-weeds for food, I will now 
mention their importance to the agriculturist for manure. As every 

n 



1 62 VALUE OF KELP. 

species is applicable for this purpose, you can imagine how almost 
universal is their use on the coasts of our own country and else- 
where. The harvest of the deep is as anxiously looked for as the 
crops which gladden the heart of the husbandman on land. In 
the Channel Islands sea-weeds are used for manure and for fuel, 
and so highly are they valued, that the farmers there have a proverb 
"No sea-weed, no corn-yard;" indeed, so precious is the " Vraic," 
as it is called, that special laws are enforced for its regular col- 
lection. The weeds d*e burnt on the hearth for fuel, and the 
charred ash serves to fertilize the ground. 

The uses to which sea-weeds are applied are, indeed, numerous 
and important. I will merely mention a few. The ashes of marine 
plants afford a large quantity of soda salts, and especially the car- 
bonate, such as "Kelp," which is prepared by merely burning 
certain species of weeds suitable for the purpose, and this was for- 
merly in great request for the manufacture of glass, but now there 
is a better and cheaper means of getting soda from salt. 

According to Pliny, the value of soda in making glass was dis- 
covered by a mere accident. A vessel loaded with soda was once 
driven ashore on the coast of Palestine. The crew landed, and 
made a fire upon the sands to boil their kettle. They took some 
lumps of the soda for the kettle to rest upon, without the least 
idea of what would result. The soda was melted, and, uniting 
with the sand, formed a rough kind of glass. 

But kelp, although superseded in this respect, is valuable from 
the circumstance that iodine (discovered in 1811, by Courtois, in 
the waste liquors produced in the manufacture of carbonate of 
soda from the ashes of sea-weeds), which is so necessary in medi- 
cine, in photography, and various processes connected with the 
arts, is chiefly derived from it. Iodine exists in the waters of the 
ocean and mineral springs, marine shelly animals, and sea vegeta- 
tion generally, but not to the same extent as in kelp. When heated, 
iodine rises in a vapour of a violet colour (hence its name, from a 
Greek word for " violet "), and this is condensed and solidified by 
a chemical process. 

Iodine is found m large quantities in the sea-weeds which cover 



THE ULVA MARINA. 163 

the rocks for miles round the west coast of Ireland. The average 
yield of British kelp is said to be ten thousand tons yearly, of the 
value of forty thousand pounds. 

In some of the countries bordering on the Baltic, sea-weeds are 
used for packing materials and for stuffing articles. The Ulva 
Marina is extensively employed in our own country for the latter 
purpose. Attempts have been made to manufacture paper from 
sea-weeds ; marine sugar is obtained from several species. The 
Chinese derive from them a gum for making their lanterns and 
transparencies, also a varnish, and a size for the manufacture of 
silk and paper. 

You may see in the British Museum fishing-lines made of sea- 
weed, and used on the north-west coast of America. 





CHAPTER XVI. 




SPONGES. 

"First from his lodge dislodged, he thrust apart 
His bellows, and his tools collecting all, 
Bestow'd them careful in a silver chest ; 
Then all around with a wet sponge he wiped 
His visage, and his arms, and brawny neck." 

I HUS Homer describes Vulcan making a similar use of the 
Sponge (derived from a Greek word " to squeeze ") as 
that in which we now employ it, and showing through 
how many ages of time that common but valuable material has 
been known and appreciated, for the great master of epic poetry 
is supposed to have lived eight hundred years before the birth of 
our Saviour. 

Among ancient nations the sponge was also used as a soft and 
elastic lining for the brazen helmets of their soldiers, and many 
other purposes. It is one of the many valuable spoils we take 
from the ocean, their birthplace and their nourishment ; and this 
leads us to inquire into the nature of these singular productions. 
It has long been a matter of debate among naturalists whether 
sponges should be classed among the vegetable or animal king- 
doms ; they are now generally placed under the order Zoophyte, or 
plant-animals (from two Greek words signifying "animal" and 
" plant"). 

134 



DR. GRANT'S EXPERIMENTS ON SPONGES. 165 

Aristotle, the greatest of ancient philosophers, who was born 
three hundred and eighty-four years before Christ, described the 
sponge as a stationary or rooted animal; but from other statements 
he made it is certain that he considered its place as between the 
animal and vegetable. Soma modern naturalists have placed 
sponges among marine vegetables, and their appearance, if you 
casually look at them, would seem to justify such an opinion ; 
but the researches of Mr. Ellis, a merchant of London, who made 
similar branches of natural history a particular pursuit, ' gave ad- 
ditional interest to this case. In the course of his miscroscopic 
investigations, he was astonished at discovering that sponges pos- 
sessed a system of pores (passages of perspiration) and vessels, in 
which sea-water passed with all the appearance of the regular 
circulation of fluids in animal bodies, and a seeming purpose of 
conveying animalculse (small minute animals) to itself for food. 

More recently Dr. Grant gave the result of his experiments on 
the same subject. The account is so interesting that I will give 
it in the Professor's own words. " Having," he says, " placed a 
portion of sponge in a watch-glass with some sea-water, I beheld 
for the first time the splendid spectacle of this living fountain 
vomiting forth from a circular cavity an impetuous torrent of 
liquid matter, and hurling along in rapid succession opaque 
(cloudy) masses which it strewed everywhere around. The beauty 
and novelty of such a scene in the animal kingdom long arrested 
my attention, but after twenty-five minutes of constant observation 
I was obliged to withdraw my eye from fatigue, without having 
seen the torrent for an instant change its direction or diminish 
the rapidity of its course. In observing another species, I placed 
two entire portions of this together in a glass of sea-water, with 
their orifices opposite to each other at the distance of two inches. 
They appeared to the naked eye like two living batteries, and soon 
covered each other with the materials ejected. I placed one of 
them in a shallow vessel, and just covered its surface and highest 
orifice with water. On strewing some powdered chalk on the 
surface of the water, the currents were visible to a great distance, 
(3tud on placing some pieces of cork or of dry paper over the 



1 66 HOW SPONGES ARE OBTAINED. 

orifices, I could perceive them moving by the force of the currents 
at the distance of ten feet from the table on which the specimens 
rested." 

So interesting are the sponges, which, although ranked as crea 
tures of very low intelligence, yet are by no means the least curious 
of those manifestations of the Divine Power 

"That built the palace of the sky, 
Formed the light wings that decorate the fly ; 
The Power that wheels the circling planets round, 
Rears every infant floweret on the ground ; 
That bounty which the mightiest beings share, 
Feeds the least gnat that gilds the evening uir." 

Every one of my young readers must be conscious of the useful 
qualities of the sponge, but many are unacquainted with the manner 
in which and where they are obtained. The finest qualities of 
sponge come from the Ottoman Archipelago, and form one of 
the principal articles of commerce with Turkey. The island of 
Calymnos is the principal station for the sponge fishery, and more 
than three hundred boats are employed, averaging each about six 
tons, and carrying six to eight men, of whom two are rowers. 
The finest qualities are sent in large quantities to our own country, 
and the common and coarser kinds are forwarded to France, 
Austria, and Constantinople. 

The average depth at which the best sponges are found is 
about one hundred and eighty feet ; those of an inferior quality 
are brought from a lesser depth. The method of diving is much 
the same as I have described in the coral-fishing. The diver, who 
goes head-foremost into the water, takes with him a triangular- 
shaped stone, to which a strong line is attached to assist him in 
his descent, and direct him like a rudder to any particular spot. 
On reaching the bottom, the diver tears off a number of sponges, 
which adhere in masses to rocks and stones, sometimes to large 
shells, and are either round, flat, or hollow like a funnel; and then, 
pulling a line, he is drawn up, with the sponges in his arms, by the 
rowers. An experienced diver will make from eight to ten dives 
during the day. The proceeds of the fishery are divided into 



COMPOSITION OF THE SPONGE. 167 

shares, the divers receiving a whole share, and the rowers two- 
thirds of a share. Formerly the divers used to sell their sponges 
by weight, to increase which they put sand into them, a practice 
still continued, though now sold by quantity. 

The sponge in its natural state would not be recognized as that 
we are accustomed to use daily. In its primitive condition it is 
covered with a thin dark skin, inside of which there is a liquid like 
milk, and of the same consistency. If you examined a drop of 
this liquid by the microscope, it would appear entirely composed 
of very small transparent grains, nearly of the same size, with some 
moisture. This jelly matter connects the different parts of the 
framework of the sponge and lines the various canals or passages. 
The pores, or apertures for perspiration, are minute openings on 
the surface, protected by the framework, and into which the water 
enters in currents, and after traversing the interior passages, is 
ejected by means of openings which are larger than the pores, and 
in many species are elevated above the surface. To examine 
closely the framework or skeleton of the sponge, to which I have 
alluded, it is necessary to macerate it in hot water, which removes 
the gelatinous matter, and leaves it in a condition to be examined 
by the microscope. This framework consists principally of two 
materials, one animal, the other mineral ; the first of a thready, 
horny, elastic nature, the second (the species most commonly used 
for domestic purposes) of a flinty or chalk material. The thready 
portion consists of a light pale-coloured network, with some few 
exceptions always solid, and varying considerably in size. The 
mineral portion has little spines, which, if examined with the micro- 
scope, show traces of a central cavity or canal, the extremities of 
which are closed. 

How the growth and increase of the sponge is effected affords 
matter of the deepest interest, and this, like everything else in 
nature, shows the unerring wisdom of an all-sustaining Providence ; 

" See through this air, this ocean, and this eartij* 
All matter quick, and bursting into birth. 
Above, how high progressive life may go \ 
Around, how wide ! how deep extend below I 



168 DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPONGE. 

Vast chain of being ! which from God began. 
Nature 's ethereal, human, angel, man, 
Beast, bird, fish, insect, — what no eye can see, 
No glass can reach — from infinite to Thee, 
From Thee to nothing." 

From the framework or skeleton of the sponge emerge, at certain 
seasons of the year, a yellow kind of grain, which projects as it 
increases in size into the cavities of the sponge, and forms the germ 
or seed of another race ; these are egg-like in appearance ; and a 
large portion of its surface becomes covered with little hairs, called 
cilia (eyelashes), from their resemblance to such. These hairs act 
as oars to the little germ, to convey it away as soon as it falls on 
the water to some other spot to which it may attach itself. The 
hairs, after accomplishing their purpose, fall off, leaving the germ 
to gradually develope into the sponge. 




CHAPTER XVIL 



SHELLS. 

*• See what a lovely shell, 
Small and pure as pearl, 
Lying close to my foot. 
Frail, but a work divine, 
Made so fairly well, 

With delicate spire and whorl, 

How exquisitely minute, 

A miracle of design! 

u What is it ? A learned man 
Could give it a clumsy name. 
Le> him name it who can, 
The beauty would be the same. 

** The tiny coil is forlorn, 

Void of the little living will 
That made it stir on the shore. 
Did he stand at the diamond door 
Of his house in a rainbow frill ? 

Did he push, when he was uncurled, 
A golden foot and a fairy horn 

Through his dim water- world?" 

\ these very striking words of Tennyson lie a host of 
bright and thoughtful fancies of one among the many 
wonderful productions of Nature. 
" How beautifully," observes Professor Moseley, " is the wisdom 
of God developed in shaping out and moulding shells, and espe- 




170 WONDERFUL STRUCTURE OF SHELLS. 

daily in the particular angle which the spiral of each species of 
shell affects, a valve connected by a necessary relation with the 
material of each, and with its stability, and the conditions of its 
buoyancy." 

This is shown in many ways, for in the structure of Shells there 
is a general adaptation of the wants of the animal -to which they 
belong. Thus, there are light shells for the floaters and swimmers, 
strength for the limpets and periwinkles, and other adjustments as 
needed for others. What can be more wonderful than the apparatus 
essential to what are commonly called bivalves, or molluscous 
animals protected by two shells? The hinge which connects them 
shows a singular contrivance for the necessities of the animal. It 
• is formed entirely of the inner layer of shell, and consists of eithei 
a simple cardinal (from the Latin cardo, " a hinge ") process, o\ 
of serrated projections, or teeth as they are called, with corre- 
sponding cavities or sockets into which they aie kiserted. To this 
hinge is superadded a ligament, the external substance by which 
the shells are united, which binds the two parts together, and keeps 
those composing the hinge in their places. This ligament (from the 
Latin ligare, " to tie ") is highly elastic, being composed of a number 
of fibres, parallel to each other and perpendicular to the valves 
which they connect. When the animal is undisturbed, the elastic 
ligament keeps the valves open, and the functions are carried on 
without any effort. When danger is apprehended, or circumstances 
require it, the adductor (from the Latin aclduco, "I draw towards") 
muscle or muscles contract, overcome the resistance of the hinge, 
and shut the valves close until they may be opened with safety. 

Conchology (from the Greek kogchulion, "a shell," and logos, 
"a discourse") is, as I need scarcely mention, the science which 
teaches the arrangement of shells into classes, species, &c. 
Formerly, these beautiful productions of Nature were looked upon 
as merely pleasing toys and objects of curiosity, but gradually this 
innocent trifling came to be viewed in its true light, by some 
collectors worthy of better employment, who put off childish 
things and went deeper into the subject. In anticipation of this, 
shell-collectors began to look upon their treasures as an assemblage 



GREAT VALUE OF SOME SHELLS. 171 

of gems, and, indeed, the enormous prices given for fine and scarce 
shells, joined with the surpassing beauty of the objects themselves, 
almost justified the view which the possessor took of his cabinet 
of treasures. But after all, these were mere trinkets, and the study 
of shells and their inhabitants at length became a science of the 
utmost importance, not only to naturalists generally, but to the 
geologist, to whom it is of the greatest value in indicating the 
difference of strata and their comparative ages. 

In Southern Europe some very beautiful shells are found, 
especially in the Italian seas. Tarento is singularly rich in shells. 
TJie Indian seas, more than any other part of the world, abound 
with the greatest variety of shell-fish, which exhibit a remarkable 
contrast, comparatively speaking, to the few species found under 
the parallel latitudes of Africa and America. " It is also a singular 
fact," observes Mr. Swainson, " that nearly three-fourths of these 
shells belong to the animals entirely carnivorous, who, to support 
life, must be continually carrying on a destructive warfare against 
the weaker animals of their own class." 

Many beautiful shells are brought from the coasts of Chili and 
Panama in tropical America. From the western coasts of Africa 
are obtained many attractive shells, such as the blood-spotted 
Harp , the sharp-ribbed Cockle, &c. The small Cowry, well known 
as a substitute for coin among the barbarous nations of Western 
Africa, is the same species as that so abundant in the Indian 
seas. 

Passing to Australia, there are found on the coasts many of the 
most beautiful and rare rolled shells known: the Snow-spotted 
kind being most valued. They have two dark bands on a flesh- 
coloured ground, the surface being entirely covered with white 
dots. 

Many deep-sea shells are so firm in their structures that they 
are brought to the beaches, especially of the tropical seas, in an 
entire state, and are eagerly sought after by collectors. Inde- 
pendent of their shape, colour, and lustre, many of them are valu- 
able, inasmuch as they inhabit the seas at such depths as not to 
be knpwn in the living state, 



172 IMMENSE QUANTITIES OF SHELLS. 

The number of shells is far, very far beyond human calculation. 
An examination of the rocks on our own sea-shore during the 
summer will prove this in a slight degree. These are so covered 
with shells that scarcely a pin's point could be introduced between 
them. Many apparent grains of chalk are in reality microscopic 
shells and fragments of marine coral, of which upwards of a thou- 
sand have been obtained from one pound of chalk. 

" The most level and lowest parts of the earth," says Cuvier, 
" when penetrated to a very great depth, exhibit nothing but hori- 
zontal strata, composed of various substances, and containing, 
almost all of them, innumerable marine productions. Similar 
strata, with the same kind of productions, compose the hills even 
to a great height. Sometimes the shells are so numerous as to 
compose the entire body of the stratum. They are almost in such 
a perfect state of preservation, that even the smallest of them 
retain their most delicate parts, their sharpest ridges, and their 
finest and most tender processes. They are found in elevations 
far above the level of every part of the ocean, and in places to 
which the sea could not be conveyed by any existing cause. The 
summits of the Pyrenees and the Andes, at the height of thirteen 
or fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, present them 
to our notice." 

The sea-banks and coasts are covered with broken shells, of 
which lime is the ingredient. This generally exists in the state 
of carbonate, the same as in chalk, common limestone, and 
marble. Many of the more tender shells and shelly matters are 
broken by the agitation of the waters, and form a variety of sand 
which is truly a product of the sea, and forms a valuable manure 
on land. Great deposits of this article are found on the coasts of 
Devonshire and Cornwall, and in many other parts of the British 
coast. 

A species of shell, the Cerithium telescopiurn, is so abundant near 
Calcutta as to be used for burning into lime. Great heaps of it 
are first exposed to the sun, to kill the animals, and then burnt. 
In some places they are so plentiful as to be used in road-making. 
Mobile in America is built on a shell-bank. 



ORGANIC STRUCTURE OF SHELLS. 173 

-*- 

It was formerly believed that shells were not only devoid df 
vessels, but completely without organs, being composed' of the 
transpiration of particles, chiefly carbonate of lime, cemented to- 
gether by a kind of animal glue. It is now known that shells 
always possess a more or less distinct organic structure, which in 
some cases resembles that of the external skin of the higher 
animals, whilst in others it approaches to that of the true skin. 

In the limited space to which my remarks on the subject of this 
chapter is necessarily confined, I cannot give more than a brief 
outline of this exceedingly interesting department of science. I 
must refer my young readers, who desire more extensive informa- 
tion, to the various valuable works which have been published of 
late by naturalists who have made conchology their especial study. 
I may briefly observe that what are called the Testacea (from the 
Latin testa, " a shell,") comprise animals surrounded with a shelly 
covering, and may be generally described as of three kinds : those 
that possess a single shell, of whatever form or character, and 
hence called univalves ; those which have two shells, the bivalves, 
or Concha; and others having more than two shells, or multivalves. 
Of these, the univalves are the most numerous and exhibit the 
greatest variety of forms, being for the most part regularly or irre- 
gularly spiral. Among the most common may be mentioned the 
Helix, or snail genus ; the Paletta, or limpet ; and the Turbo, or 
wreath genus, of which the periwinkle is a species. 

The shell of the Clam, or Bear's Paw, is described as, perhaps, 
the most ornamental of bivalves, in regard to form, texture, and 
colour. It comes from the South Seas ? and is much used for 
decorative purposes. 

Among the most curious shells is the Murex, or Purple-shell, so 
highly valued by the ancients for the exquisite dye it is capable of 
producing ; the Volute, or Mitre-shell, including the fine polished 
spiral shells, without lips or perforation, which are often exhibited 
on chimney-pieces as ornaments, sometimes embellished with dots 
and with coloured bands. The Strombus comprise larger shell s, 
spiral like the volute, but with a large expanding lip spreading into 
a groove on the left side ? and often still farther projecting into 



IJT4 VARIETIES OP SHELLS. 

lobes or claws, the back frequently covered with large excrescences, 
in some species called Cormorant's Foot. 

And now for a few observations on the use and value of shells. 
Even as mere objects of attraction they tend to raise the thoughts 
to that great and glorious Being, 

" Our God, omnific, sole original, 
Wise wonder-working wielder of the whole: 
Infinite, inconceivable, immense," 

who has shaped and adapted them to the wants of numberless 
creatures, of which science at the most can have but a feeble 
comprehension. " Beautiful," observes Mr. Jesse, " since more 
exquisite samples of elegance of form and brilliancy of colour 
cannot be found through the wide range of natural objects, whether 
organized or inorganized ; surprising, when we consider that all 
these durable relics were constructed by soft and fragile animals, 
among the most perishable of living creatures. Still more sur- 
prising is. an assemblage of shells, when we reflect upon the endless 
variation of pattern and sculpture which it displays ; for there are 
known to naturalists more than fifteen thousand perfectly distinct 
kinds of shells. Every one of these kinds has a rule of its own, 
a law which every individual of each kind, through all its' genera- 
tions, implicitly obeys. 

"The formation of the shell itself is but an example of a process 
at work equally in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. A shell, 
whether simple or complicated in the contour or colour, is the 
aggregate result of the function operation of numberless minute 
membranous cells, the largest of which does not exceed one- 
hundredth of an inch in diameter, and in the majority of instances 
is less than one-thousandth of an inch. In the cavities of these 
microscopic chambers is deposited a crystalline carbonate of 
lime, which gives compactness to the beautiful dwelling-house, or 
rather coat-of-mail, that protects the tender mollusc. How aston- 
ishing is the reflection, that myriads of exactly similar and exceed- 
ingly minute organs should so work in combination that the 
result of their labours should present an edifice rivalling, nay. 



Importance of shells. 175 

exceeding in complexity, yet order of detail and perfection of 
elaborate finish, the finest palaces ever constructed by man ! " 

Sea-shells perform also an important part in the economy of the 
universe. Maury remarks on this subject, that shell-fish and 
various other tribes that dwell far down in the depths of the ocean, 
although regarded as being so low in the scale of creation, spread 
over certain parts of the waters " those benign mantles of warmth 
which temper the winds, and modify more or less all the marine 
climates of the earth. The sea-breezes and the sea-shells perform 
their appointed offices, acting so as to give rise to a reciprocating 
motion in the waters, and thus imparting to the ocean forces also 
for its circulation. Sea-shells and sea-insects are the conservators 
of the ocean. As the salts are emptied into the sea, these crea- 
tures secrete them again, and pile them up in solid masses, to serve 
as the bases of islands and continents, to be in the course of ages 
upheaved into dry land, and then again dissolved by the dews and 
rains, and washed by the rivers into the seas." 

The use of shells is multifarious : in China, some descriptions are 
prepared as medicines ; as articles of ornament they were employed 
in the earliest times. Several perforated shells found in Aquitaine> 
in France, show that they must have been worn as decorations or 
charms by primitive races. The custom of using shells as neck- 
laces is common not only among savages, but amongst civilized 
people at the present day. Nacreous or pearl-like shells are em- 
ployed for making buttons and other articles ; coloured and pearl 
ones form the ornaments of papier-mache work, card-cases, &c. 
Various small shells are made into flowers and decorations for 
head-dresses ; very beautiful cameos are carved upon some descrip- 
tions of shells for brooches, bracelets, ear-rings, and other attractive 
objects. The Fountain-shell 'of the West Indies is one of the largest 
known univalve shells, weighing sometimes four or five pounds. 
Immense quantities are imported from the Bahamas for the manu- 
facture of cameos. The secret of cameo-cutting, Mr. Woodward 
informs us, consists simply in knowing that the inner stratum of 
porceilanous shells is differently coloured from the exterior. Some 
shells are manufactured into spoons, handles for knives, cups ; 



176 THE TRUMPET-StiElL 

lamps, &c. The purest kind of lime is made from calcined shells, 
and their use as a manure I have already mentioned. 

Mother-of-pearl is the beautiful white enamel, or pearly lining, 
which forms the greater part of most oyster-shells, but especially 
the larger ones found in the seas of the Pacific and Indian 
Oceans. 

In the cathedral and some of the churches in Panama the upper 
portions are studded with pearl shells, which give them a strange 
and not unpleasing appearance. 

Mr. M'Micking, in his " Recollections of Manilla and the Philip- 
pines," states that in many of the houses in the capital the outer 
side of the verandah or corridor is composed of coarse and dark- 
coloured mother-of-pearL shells, of little value, set in a wooden 
framework of small squares, forming windows, which move on slides. 
Although the light admitted through this sort of window is much 
inferior to what glass would give, it has the advantage of being 
strong. 

The use of spiral shells as trumpets or horns is traced back to 
the Romans, and they are thus employed by the Africans, the 
natives of the Eastern Archipelago and New Zealand, and also in 
Japan. The fine Trumpet-shell is found in most warm climates, 
in the African, the American, and Asiatic seas, also on the coasts 
of the islands of the South Pacific. 

Mr. Ellis, in his " Polynesian Researches," speaking of the 
Tahitians, observes, " The sound of the trumpet or shell used in 
war to stimulate in action by the priests of the temple, and also 
by the herald, and others on board their fleets, was more horrific 
than that of the drum. The largest shells were usually selected 
for this purpose, and were sometimes above a foot in length, and 
seven or eight inches in diameter at the mouth. In order to 
facilitate the blowing of this trumpet they made a perforation, 
about an inch in diameter, near the apex of the shell. Into this 
they inserted a bamboo cane about three feet in length, which was 
secured by binding it to the shell with fine braid; the aperture 
was rendered air-tight by cementing the outside of it with a resinous 
gum from the bread-fruit tree, These shells were blown when a 



" PIL GRIM "SHELLS. 1 77 



procession walked to the temple, or their warriors marched to 
battle, at the inauguration of the king, during the worship at the 
temple, or when a tabu or restriction was imposed in the name of 
the gods. The sound is extremely loud, but the most monotonous 
and dismal that it is possible to imagine." 

This is the shell generally represented by painters in the hands 
of the " Tritons " or sea-monsters. 

In Ceylon shells of a certain kind are used to contain the sacred 
oil for anointing the priests. On the western coasts of South 
America there is a species of limpet which attains the diameter of 
a foot, and the shell of which is employed by the natives as a 
basin. 

Another general application of shells is as weights to nets and 
barbs for harpoons and hooks. 

To shell-fish, as articles of food, I have already alluded with 
regard to the lobster, crab, oyster, mussel, &c. Mr. Woodward 
mentions that the " scallops," so called in the London market, or 
the "queens" at Brighton, or "frills" on the coasts of Dorset- 
shire and Devonshire — are now almost as much eaten as oysters, 
but require cooking first. An allied species has received the name 
of the " St. James's shell." It was worn by pilgrims to the Holy 
Land. The fossils of this kind, found in the sub-Apennine forma- 
tion of Italy, were supposed, by early writers, to have been dropped 
by these devout persons on the road. Parnel says of the " Hermit : " 

"He quits his cell, the pilgrim-staff he bore, 
And fixed the scallop in his hat before. " 

Clams — another species of bivalve molluscs — are eaten in 
North America ; while the giant clam of the Indian Ocean, the 
shell of which often weighs upwards of five hundred pounds, con- 
tains an animal sometimes weighing twenty pounds, which Captain 
Cook found to be very good eating. The rock-limpet is much 
used by fishermen for bait. In the north of Ireland they are eaten. 
The whelk is also employed for bait, and many tons' weight of 
these, cockles, and winkles, are consumed by shell-fish amateurs. 

12 



17$ PORCELAIN AND COWRY-SHELLS. 

The mention of cockles reminds me of a statement in Drake's 
" Voyage round the World," the quaint style of which is amusing : 

" Our stay being longer than we purposed (in Patagonia), our 
diet began to wax short, and small mussels were good meat, yea* 
the sea-weeds were dainty dishes. By reason whereof we were 
driven to seek corners very narrowly for some refreshing, but the 
best we could find was shells instead of meat. We found the nests* 
but the birds were gone — that is, the shells of the cockles on the 
sea-shore, where the giants had banqueted, but could never chance 
with the cockles themselves in the sea. The shells were so extra- 
ordinary that it would be incredible to the most part, for a pair of 
shells did weigh four pounds, and what the meat of two such shells 
might be niay be easily conjectured." 

The shells called Porcelain-shells by the French and Germans 
are almost entirely composed of lime, are richly enamelled, and 
are often very beautiful. They are most abundant and attain their 
largest size in the seas of warm climates. Only a few small species 
are found on the British coasts. The Cowry-shell, to which I have 
alluded as a substitute for money, is not of great beauty, being 
yellow or white, often with a yellow ring about an inch long* and 
nearly as broad as long. In Bengal three thousand two hundred 
cowries are reckoned equal to a rupee, so that a cowry is equal 
in value to one-thirty-sixth of a farthing. Yet cowries to the 
value of two hundred thousand rupees are said to have been 
imported annually into Bengal. Many tons of cowries are an- 
nually imported into England to be used in trade with Western 
Africa. Of the cowries a very remarkable fact has been stated, 
that when the animals find their shells too small for the increased 
dimensions of their body, they quit them, and proceed to the 
formation of new ones of larger size, and, consequently, moire 
adapted to their wants. As soon as the cowry has abandoned its 
covering, the hinder part of its body begins to furnish anew the 
shelly matter which is afterwards condensed on its surface. This 
secretion is continued until at length the shell appears of the 
consistence of paper; and the mouth or opening of the shell, 
which at this period is very wide, soon afterwards contracts to its 



THE "VOICE" OF A SHELL. 179 

proper form and dimensions. The edges are thickened, and form 
into those beautiful folds or teeth which are so remarkable on 
each side of the opening of these shells. The porcelain and cowry- 
shells belong to a family which includes also the shells called 
Poached Eggs, and the Weaver's Shuttle, remarkable for its pro- 
longation at both ends. 

A well-known shell, distributed over the whole world, is the 
Fusus (from the Latin, " a spindle "), so named from its shape. In 
Scotland it is called the " roaring buckie," from the continuous 
sound, as of waves breaking on the shore, heard when the empty 
shell is applied to the ear. Wordsworth alludes to this " voice " 
of a shell in some sweet lines : 

" I have seen 
A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract 
Of inland ground, applying to his ear 
The convolutions of a smooth-tipp'd shell, 
To which, in silence hush'd, his very soul 
Listen'd intensely, and his countenance soon 
Brighten'd with joy; for murmurings from within 
Were heard — sonorous cadence, whereby, 
To his belief, the monitor express'd 
Mysterious union with his native sea." 

In the cottages of Zetland, this shell, generally about six inches 
long, is used for a lamp, being suspended horizontally by a cord, its 
cavity containing the oil, and the wick passing through the canal. 

The shell of the Haliotis (from the Greek als, " the sea," and ous 9 
"the ear") is very ornamental, and valued, on account of its pearly 
lining, for adorning papier mache articles. These shells, which are 
very numerous, and some of splendid appearance, come from the 
tropical seas, and are commonly called, from their shape, " ear- 
shells," or "sea-ears." One species, however, is found on the 
southern European coasts, and on those of the Channel Islands. 
From the warm regions we also obtain the beautiful Harp-shells, 
the delicate and brilliant colours of which render them highly 
prized; also the Fountain-shells to which I have already alluded as 
used for cameos, and are much esteemed as garden ornaments for 



180 VALUE OF RARE SHELLS. 

their solid and delicately-tinted substance. One of these shells 
sometimes weighs four or five pounds. 

A shell called the Razor, a common species of which you may 
have often picked up on our sea-coasts — some straight, about an 
inch long and eight inches broad ; and another, curved like a 
sword — attain a large size in the tropical seas, and are of great 
beauty. They are found in the sands of all seas, except in the 
cold regions, the solen, the name of the inhabitant of this shell, 
burrowing in the sands, and ascending from its holes by means of 
the foot, which can be lengthened or contracted at will. 

What are called Top-shells, from their spiral and very generally 
top-shape, are frequently found on our coasts, and many of them 
are very ornamental, but not equal in this respect to the tropical 
specimens. 

From Australia we obtain a large number of the richly decorated 
Pheasant-shells, formerly of great rarity, and expensive, but now 
comparatively cheap. 

The Wentletrapshells, the common kinds of which are found on 
our own coasts and those of continental Europe, are very pretty : 
they are spiral, with many whorls or wreaths, deeply divided, and 
crossed by remarkably elevated ribs. The true shells of this 
species come from the warm seas, and are generally very beautiful. 
One kind, called the Precious Wentletrap, is of such rarity and 
richness, that it is said to have been sold to shell-collectors at the 
price of two hundred guineas, but it may now be had for a few 
shillings. It is nearly two inches in length, snow-white or pale 
flesh-coloured, with eight separated wreaths. Trough-shells, several 
small species of which are very abundant on our sea-shores, are 
triangular, broader than long, and the valves equal. Some of them 
have a very attractive appearance. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



SUBMARINE SCENERY. 

4< The water is calm and still below, 

For the winds and waves are absent there, 
And the sands are bright as the stars that glow 

In the motionless fields of upper air. 
There, with its waving blades of green, 

The sea-flag streams through the silent water, 
And the crimson leaf of the dulse is seen 

To blush like a banner bath'd in slaughter ! " 



Percival, 




I T is in the warm sea regions that the glory of submarine 
scenery is developed, the great transparency of the water 
in various places affording an ample view of the magnifi- 
cent objects which gem the ocean depths. The poet Moore, writing 
of the Bahamas (the earliest discovery of Columbus), a chain of 
islands in the Atlantic, remarks on the singular clearness of the 
water, so that the rocks are seen to a very great depth. " As we 
entered the harbour," he observes, " they appeared so near to us 
that it seemed impossible to avoid striking on them." Addressing 
the Marchioness of Donegal, he says : 

u Believe me, lady, when the zephyrs bland 
Floated our bark lo this enchanted land — 
These leafy isles, upon the ocean thrown 
Like studs of emerald o'er a silver zone — 
Never did weary bark more sweetly glide, 
Or rest its anchor in a lovelier tide. " 



1 82 BEAUTY OF TROPICAL SUBMARINE SCENERY. 

Dr. Collingwood, in his " Rambles of a Naturalist," describes a 
scene of marvellous submarine beauty in the China seas. He 
speaks of Fiery Cross Reef on a day when the sea was so calm 
that the ship's anchor could be distinctly seen sixty or seventy feet 
from the surface. Rowing over a two-fathom patch, he allowed 
the boat to drift slowly, and gazed on the sea treasures beneath 
him. 

" Glorious masses of living coral strewed the bottom ; immense 
globular madrepores (zoophytes) ; vast overhanging mushroom- 
shaped expansions; complicated ramifications of interweaving 
branches, mingled with smaller and more delicate species, round, 
finger-shaped, horn-like, and umbrella forms, lay in a wondrous 
confusion ; and these were painted in every shade of delicate and 
brilliant colouring — grass-green, deep blue, bright yellow, pure white, 
rich buff, and more sober brown; altogether forming a kaleidoscope 
effect of form and colour unequalled by anything I ever beheld. 
Here and there was a large clam-shell, wedged in between masses 
of coral, the gaping zigzag mouth covered with a projecting mantle 
of the deepest Prussian blue ; beds of dark purpled, long spined 
echini (sea-urchins), and the thick black bodies of sea-cucumbers 
varied the aspect of the sea bottom. In and out of these coral 
groves, like gorgeous birds in forest trees, swam the most beauti- 
fully coloured and grotesque fishes — some of an intense blue, others 
bright red, yellow, black, salmon coloured, and every hue of the 
rainbow, curiously barred, and bound, and bearded." 

All the deepest colours we are acquainted with are those of hot 
climates, and all the lightest those of cold ones. The brilliant 
colour of fishes, shells, and sea-weeds of the tropics, and especially 
of the Indian and Caribbean Seas, are spoken of with admiration 
by every navigator. 

"To give some idea," remarks Mr. Adams ("Voyage of H.M.8. 
Samarang"), " of the splendid colour of tropical fishes, I copy from 
my journal the colour of a species of Batistes (cross-bow-fish) 
taken by us at Sooloo : upper part of the body pale brown, with 
two broad stripes of deeper brown extending backwards towards 
the dorsal (back) fin, four well-defined and narrow streaks descend- 



SPLENDID FISHES. 183 

ing to the end fin, a bright spot of ultramarine round the end; iris 
golden, a dark greenish-brown margined with deep blue, reaching 
from beneath the eyes to the pectoral fin ; over the eye and summit 
of the head, a deep blue colour, with a lighter streak running down 
before the eye to the base of the pectoral fin ; a bright blue stripe 
above the upper lip, reaching to the angle of the mouth ; from this 
point to a little below the pectoral fin, a deep orange-yellow stripe ; 
all below this, and on the stomach, pure dead white ; a pale oval 
mark on the tail; all the fins light semi-transparent." 

Wondrously beautiful is the fish thus carefully described, but it 
is eclipsed, if possible, by the imperial Chcetodon (from Greek words 
"I contain," "a tooth"), the generic name of a family of spiny-finned 
fishes inhabiting the southern seas of China. The singular splen- 
dour of this animal will give you an idea of the marvels that exist 
in the bosom of the deep. Its body is deep blue, marked all over 
by about thirty-two narrow bands of orange-yellow. The pectoral 
fins are black, and the entire tail a bright yellow. It is rather a 
large fish of its kind, sometimes attaining the length of fifteen 
inches. The tribe to which this fish belongs seems to have been 
particularly favoured, for Nature seems to have bestowed her 
brightest ornaments on them with a most lavish hand. 

And here, my young friends, let me remark to you— however, 
diverging somewhat from my present subject — that the glorious 
beauty of these and other inhabitants of the warm seas, while it 
pleases the eye and excites admiration, has one drawback, and a 
very important one too. For the nourishment of man they are 
not to be compared to the far less showy but more wholesome 
fishes of the colder waters, which produce the species best suited 
for food, and very far superior in flavour. Professor Maury states 
from his own knowledge, that seamen, even after long voyages, 
prefer their salt beef and pork to a mess of fish, resplendent with 
all the hues of the rainbow, caught in the warm seas; reminding us 
of what the poet so aptly says : 

" It is the flavour forms the test of merit, 
Which, when with wholesome qualities combined, 
Forms the intrinsic value of all food. 



iU THE RUBY-COLOURED ETEL1S. 

If mere exterior is to claim the palm, 

Then must the woodcock to the parrot yield, 

The spotted leopard supersede the deer, 

And dories to the blue-striped wrasse give place." 

To the eye of the experienced naturalist, how many, varied, and 
beautiful are the forms which meet his gaze in the transparent 
depths of the ocean! Dr. Collingwood describes a magnificent 
spectacle which he witnessed and declares to be truly a wonder 
of the deep. This consisted of five or six large salpa-like (gela- 
tinous) bodies, forming an oblique line, each one of a bright and 
delicate green colour, and with a large rich ruby spot, which 
shone in the water like carbuncles. Another consisted of a long 
and delicate chain, which might be compared to a necklace of 
diamonds set with brilliant rubies, the whole waving gracefully in 
the currents of the water. 

t Among these marine gems of the " purest water " which add 
such splendour to the submarine scenery of the tropics, I may 
mention, also, the ruby-coloured Etelis, a fish allied to the perch 
tribe — though differing, from possessing strong and long teeth — 
so named from its colour, which Cuvier compared to the tints of 
the ruby. The eye of this splendid fish is a conspicuous object, 
and of a golden orange. The colour of the etelis is bright ruby- 
red, relieved by stripes of bright golden yellow, which run along 
the ridges of the scales. But there are numbers of such glorious 
fishes — shoals 

' ' Of fish that with their fins and shining scales 
Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft 
Bank the mid-sea; 

Or, sporting with quick glance, 
Show to the sun their waved coats dropp'd with gold, 
Or in the pearly shells at ease attend 
Moist nutriment, or under rocks their food 
In painted armour watch." 

The Indian Ocean, one of the five grand divisions of the universal 
ocean, is especially rich in its submarine scenery. 

" We dive," says Schleiden, " into the liquid crystal of its waters, 
and it opens to us the most wondrous enchantments of the fairy 



SUBMARINE GLORIES OF THE INDIAN OCEAN 185 

tales of our childhood's dreams. The strangely branching thickets; 
bear living flowers. Dense masses of Meandrinus (a genus of 
polyps), and Astreas (from the Greek, " a star;" animalcule which 
form coral), contrast with the leafy cup-shaped expansions of the 
Explanarius, the variously ramified Madrepores, which are now 
spread out like ringers, now rise in trunk-like branches, and now, 
display the most elegant array of interlacing branches. The 
colouring surpasses everything : vivid green alternates with brown 
or yellow ; rich tints of purple, from pale red-brown to the deepest 
blue. Brilliant rosy, yellow, or peach-coloured Nullipores over- 
grow the decaying masses, and are themselves interwoven with 
the pearl-coloured plates of the Retipores, resembling the most 
delicate ivory carvings. Close by wave the yellow and lilac fans, 
perforated like trellis-work, of the Gorgonius. The clear sand of 
the bottom is covered with the thousand strange forms and tints 
of the sea-urchins and star-fishes. The leaf-like Flustras and 
Escharas adhere like mosses and lichens to the branches of the 
corals; the yellow, green, and purple-striped limpets cling like 
monstrous cochineal insects upon their trunks. Like gigantic 
cactus-blossoms, sparkling in the most ardent colours, the Sea- 
Anemones expand their crowns of tentacles upon the broken rocks, 
or more modestly embellish the flat bottom, looking like beds of 
variegated ranunculuses. Around the blossoms of the coral shrubs 
play the humming-birds of the ocean — little fish sparkling with 
red or blue metallic lustre, or gleaming in golden green, or in the 
brightest silvery tints. 

" Softly, like spirits of the deep, the delicate milk-white or bluish 
bells of the jelly-fishes float through this charmed world. Here 
the gleaming violet and gold-green Isabelle, and the flaming 
yellow, black, and vermilion-striped coquette chase their prey; 
there the band-fish shoots snake-like through the thicket, like a 
long silver ribbon, glittering with rosy and azure hues. Then 
comes the fabulous cuttle-fish, decked in all colours of the rain- 
bow, but marked by no definite outline; appearing and disappear- 
ing, inter-crossing, joining company and parting again, in most 
fantastic ways ; and all this in the most rapid change, and amidst 



186 SUBMARINE "GARDENS* AT NIGHT. 

the most wonderful play of light and shade, altered by every breath 
of wind and every slight curling oi the surface of the ocean. When 
day declines, and the shades of night lay hold upon the deep, the 
fantastic garden is lighted up with new splendour. Millions oi 
glowing sparks, little microscopic medusas and crustaceans, dance 
like glowworms through the gloom. The sea-feather, which by 
daylight is vermilion-coloured, waves in a greenish phosphorescent 
light. Every corner ol it is lustrous. Parts which by day were 
dull and brown, and retreated from the sight amidst the universal 
brilliancy of colour, are now radiant in the most wonderful play 
of green, yellow, and red light ; and to complete the wonders of 
the enchanted night, the silver disc, six feet across, of the moon- 
fish, moves, slightly luminous, among the crowd of little sparkling 
stars." 

How like a dream of romance and fairy beauty is this vivid 
description of submarine scenery in the tropics ! What exquisite 
loveliness exists in those still, transparent waters! far exceeding in 
richness and colouring the most attractive objects that meet the 
eye on land. And while only a very small portion of these ocean 
wonders are unfolded to human gaze, what vast and countless 
glories are hidden in the great ocean depths to all save Him 

" Who guides below, and rules above: 
The great Disposer and the mighty King ! 
Than He none greater, next Him none 
That can be, is, or was ; 
Supreme, He singly fills the throne." 

But let us continue these fascinating descriptions from the lec- 
tures of Schleiden : " The most luxuriant vegetation of a tropical 
landscape cannot unfold as great wealth of form, while in the 
variety and splendour of colour it would stand far behind this 
garden landscape, which is strangely composed exclusively of 
animals, and not of plants; for, characteristic as the luxuriant 
development of vegetation of the temperate zones is of the sea 
bottom, the fulness and multiplicity of the marine Fauna is just 
as prominent in the regions of the tropics. Whatever is beautiful, 
wondrous, or uncommon in the great classes of fish and E'chinoderus 



THE ASTER IAS OR STAR-FISHES. 187 

(animals which include the sea-urchin and star-fish), jelly-fishes 
and polyps, and the molluscs of all kinds, is crowded into the 
warm and crystal waters of the tropical ocean — rests in the white 
sands, clothes the rough cliffs, clings, where the room is already 
occupied, like a parasite, upon the first comers, or swims through 
the shallows and depths of the elements ; while the mass of the 
vegetation is of a far inferior magnitude." 

I have, in the chapter on " The Rock-builders of the Ocean," 
mentioned the wonderful beauty of the coral regions ; I will merely 
add, on this subject, the description given by Mr. Adams ("Voyage 
of H.M.S. Samarang") of what he witnessed in the clear ocean 
depths of the tropics. 

"I am aware," he cautiously observes, "that persons have been 
accused of allowing their imaginations to trifle too freely with the 
reins in describing submarine scenery, but I shall simply state the 
matter as I found it. Dentritic (from the Greek dentritis, " like the 
growth of a tree") zoophytes, with their richly slender branches, 
loaded with innumerable variously coloured polypi, like trees co- 
vered with delicate blossoms, uprose from the clear clean bottom 
of the bay; distinct and characteristic in their specific forms, and 
contrasting strangely and powerfully with those most apathetic and 
stone-like combinations of the plant, the animal, and the rock, 
the Madrepores, the Millipores, and the Nullipores. Flat and im- 
movably extended on the sand, in the bare spots between the 
corallines, were impassive large blue five-fingered star-fishes, and 
crawling with an awkward shuffling movement like an Octopus 
(from Greek words, " eight-footed ;" a mollusc, whose mouth is sur- 
rounded with fleshy appendages which serve as feet), with their 
snaky arms groping their way among the weeds, and striving to 
insinuate their writhing forms beneath the coral masses. Fixed 
flower-like Actinia (polypi with numerous tentacles) were expanding 
their flashing petals on the rocks : all contributed to prove that 
Nature is ever weaving the subtle woof of existence beneath the 
surface of the waves." 

The Asterias, or star-fishes, so frequently alluded to in the de- 
scriptions of submarine scenery by naturalists, belong to a genus 



188 THE FLOWERS OF THE OCEAM. 

of molluscous worms, and some species you must often have ob- 
served on the sea-shore. The most curious of the sea-stars, per- 
haps, is that called Caput Medusoe, or basket-fish, which inhabits 
most seas, and consists of five central rays, each of which divides 
into two smaller ones, and these are again divided into two others ; 
the same kind of division and subdivision being continued to a vast 
extent, and every ray regularly decreasing in size, until at length 
the ramifications amount to many thousands, forming a beautiful 
network spread over the water. The colour of the worm varies, 
being sometimes pale, sometimes reddish, white, and brown. 
The arms of the star-fishes are furnished on their lower surfaces 
with suckers, which enable them to crawl along the smoothest 
rocks. 

The madrepores, millipores, and nullipores are polypi, classed 
by Cuvier in the third family of the Coralliferi, including all the 
numerous species which were for a long time regarded as marine 
plants, and in which numerous individuals are so united as to 
form compound animals, for the most part fixed, like plants, by a 
branched stem, or by simple expansions of a solid substance at the 
base or in the middle of the group. 

No more lovely ornaments of " submarine gardens " could be 
imagined than the Anemones, a name thus applied about a century 
ago by the indefatigable naturalist, Ellis, who made them the sub- 
ject of some remarkable investigations, and who remarks that "their 
tentacles being disposed of in regular circles, and tinged with a 
variety of bright lively colours, very nearly represent the beautiful 
petals of some of our most elegantly fringed and radiated flowers, 
such as the carnation, marigold, and anemone," reminding us of 
what Du Bartas says, in his quaint poem on the birth of the world, 
that seas have 

1 ' Pinks, gilliflowers, mushrooms, and many millions 
Of other plants." 

You must have frequently seen some of the smaller species of 
anemones on the rocks of our sea-coast and in aquariums, but to 
observe these animals in their full bloom of loveliness, we must 
gaze into the transparent waters of the tropical seas, where they 



VIVID COLOURS OF THE ANEMONES. 189 

attain their greatest size and beauty, spreading out their delicate 
tentacles or " feelers," and displaying all the vivid colours which 
render them so remarkable. The similarity of some of these animal 
"flowers" to the Flora of the earth is very singular. Hughes, in 
his "Natural History of Barbadoes," describes some of them as 
found in a submarine rock-basin : 

" In the middle of it there is a fixed stone or rock which is 
always under water. Round its sides, at different depths, seldom 
exceeding eighteen inches, are seen at all times of the year, issuing 
out of little holes, certain substances that have the appearance of 
fine radiated flowers, of a pale yellow or a bright straw-colour, 
slightly tinged with green, having a circular border of thickset 
petals, about the size of, and much resembling, those of a single 
garden marigold, except that the whole of this seeming flower is 
narrower at the setting on of the leaves than any flower of that 
kind." 

'* Each following billow lifted the last foam 

That trembled on the sand with rainbow hues; 

The living flower that, rooted to the rock, 

Late from the thinner element, 

Shrank down within its purple stem to sleep, 

Now feels the water, and again 

Awakening, blossoms out 

All its green anther necks. " 

This reads like a gardener's description of some new and rare 
plants. 

But the elegance and beauty of the anemones belong only to 
their native element; when left dry by the receding tide, they 
contract into a jelly-like mass, and the glorious hues that shone 
through the clear waters of the ocean fade away. 

" I once cut off," adds Mr. Hughes, "with a knife which I had 
held for a long time out of sight near the mouth of a hole out of 
which one of these animals appeared, two of the seeming leaves. 
These, when out of the water, retained their shape and colour; 
but being composed of a membrane-like substance, surprisingly 
thin, it soon shrivelled up and decayed." 

Each species generally selects a peculiar haunt, but they are 



igo POWER OF REPRODUCING ORGANS. 

found in every sea. Some appear suspended from the vaults of 
submarine reefs; others cover the more exposed sides of rocks 
with a sort of flower-like tapestry. 

One species commonly found on our own coasts, and a gem of 
the aquarium, is named Mesembryanthetnum (from mesembris, " mid- 
day," and anthemon, "a flower"), after the fig-marigold, an annual of 
our English flower-gardens. If you look attentively at one of these 
animals, you will be struck with its remarkable beauty. Around 
the margin of the mouth there is a circle of little azure knobs or 
knots, like turquoise beads. Another British sea-anemone, called 
the Crassicornis, exhibits the most attractive colours — red, varied 
with white, orange, green, and yellow. 

The term applied by naturalists to these very interesting "animal- 
flowers " is Actinia (from the Greek aktin, " a ray "), subdivided into 
a number of genera, and is now the type of a family called Actiniadce. 

The sea-anemones are a hungry class, preying especially on 
small crabs, which they clasp in a fond embrace, and eventually 
devour. Another peculiarity in these strange and beautiful marine 
animals is their power of reproducing organs of their own bodies 
that may have been broken off. Mr. Bennett relates : 

" I had once brought to me a specimen of the crassicornis, 
that might have been originally two inches in diameter, and that 
had, somehow, contrived to swallow a valve of Pecten maximus (a 
genus of two-shelled molluscs) of the size of an ordinary saucer. 
The shell, fixed within the stomach, was so placed as to divide it 
completely into two halves, so that the body, stretched tightly 
over, had become thin and flattened like a pancake. All com- 
munication between the interior portion of the stomach and the 
mouth was, of course, prevented ; yet, instead of emaciating and 
dying of an atrophy, the animal had availed itself of what had un- 
doubtedly been a very untoward accident, to increase its enjoy- 
ments and its chances of double fare. A new mouth, furnished 
with two rows of numerous tentacula, was opened up at what had 
been the base, and led to the under-stomach : the individual had 
become a sort of Siamese twin, but with greater intimacy and 



CLEARNESS OF THE WATERS OF THE RED SEA. 191 

The anemones I need scarcely further describe to you, except 
as soft fleshy bodies, with mouths surrounded by several rows of 
tentacles or feelers, which they expand, contract, and move at will 
with wonderful ease, shrinking when touched into a solid round 
mass with a slippery surface, which renders it difficult to remove 
them without injury. 

The singular clearness of the waters of the Red Sea has often 
been noticed by travellers, as presenting views of submarine 
scenery of the greatest beauty. Aiton, in his "Lands of the 
Messiah, Mahomet, and the Pope," says : 

"When leaning over the edge of our boat on the smooth surface 
of the sea, I could distinctly see the pebbles and the pure white 
sand at a depth even of one hundred and eighty feet. Through 
the body of the water I could discern the minutest objects at an 
immense depth. The secrets of the deep thus laid open to me 
afforded the most magnificent spectacles that could be conceived. 
In one part I noticed whole forests of pale pink and red coral, 
spreading forth their luxuriant branches, and imparting a blush to 
the element in which they grew. How varied, how beautiful was 
their colouring ! a brilliant red or blue, or gorgeous with orange or 
the deepest black. In one spot they were of a dead white or 
living purple, in another a bright yellow or crimson, and every- 
where fancifully diversified." 

It is in the Red Sea also that the strange family to which the 
Sea-Slug and the Sea-Cucumber belong are found in great abundance 
—many of the species exhibiting splendid colours, and making the 
bottom of the sea, particularly among coral formations, gay and 
lovely as a garden. Here also are seen the zoophyte Gorgonias, 
the Stem of which is usually brown or black, whilst the fleshy parts 
often exhibit colours of great brilliancy. One species, the Sea-Fan, 
is brought to us as a curiosity. Here are also the Serpula (from 
the Latin serpo, "I creep"), a species of ringed animals, like worms, 
inhabiting a limy tube like that of molluscs, which they attach to 
rocks and shells in the sea. The wide end of the tube is open, 
and from this the animal protrudes its head and gills, which expand 
as beautiful fan-like tufts. They are generally most splendidly 



192 SUBMARINE BEAUTIES IN THE NORTH SEA. 

coloured. And here also are the SertuZaria, a genus of zoophytes 
attached to stones, shells, and sea-weeds, and very beautiful, re- 
minding us of the lines of Southey : 

"And here were coral bowers, 

And grots of madrepores, 
And banks of sponge, as soft and fair to eye 

As e'er was mossy bed 
Whereon the wood-nymphs lie 

With languid limbs in summer's sultry hours. 

Here, too, were living flowers, 

Which, like a bud compacted, 

Their purple cups contracted. 

And now, in open blossoms spread, 
Stretched like green anthers many a seeking head 5 

And arborets of jointed stone were there, 
And plants of fibres, fine as silkworm thread ; 

Yes, beautiful as mermaid's golden hair, 
Upon the waves dispread ; 

Others, that like the broad banana glowing, 
Raised their long wrinkled leaves of purple hue, 

Like streamers wide outflowing." 

The waters of the North Sea, along the west coast of the 
Scandinavian peninsula, have been remarked by all observers for 
being of an extraordinary transparency. "As we passed," says 
Sir Arthur de Capel Brooke, " slowly over the surface, the bottom, 
which here was in general a white sand, was clearly visible with 
its minutest objects, where the depth was from one hundred and 
twenty to one hundred and fifty feet. During the whole course ot 
the tour I made, nothing appeared to me so extraordinary as the 
inmost recesses of the deep thus unveiled to the eye. The surface 
of the ocean was unruffled by the slightest breeze, and the gentle 
splashing of the oars scarcely disturbed it. Hanging over the 
gunwale of the boat, with wonder and delight I gazed on the 
slowly moving scene below. Where the bottom was sandy, the 
different kinds of asterise, echini, and even the smallest shells, 
appeared at that great depth conspicuous to the eye, and the water 
seemed in some measure to have the effect of a magnifier, by 
enlarging the objects like a telescope, and bringing them seemingly 



SUBMARINE FORESTS AND MEADOWS. 193 

nearer. Now, creeping along, we saw, far beneath, the rugged 
sides of a mountain, rising towards our boat, the base of which, 
perhaps, was hidden some miles in the great deep below. Though 
moving on a level surface, it seemed almost as if we were ascend- 
ing the height under us; and when we passed over its summit, 
which rose in appearance to within a few feet of our boat, and 
came again to the descent, which on this side was suddenly per- 
pendicular, and overlooking a watery gulf, as we pushed gently 
over the last point of it, it seemed almost as if we had thrown 
ourselves down this precipice, the illusion, from the crystal clear- 
ness of the deep, actually producing a sudden start. Now we 
came again to a plain, and passed slowly over the submarine 
forests and meadows which appeared in the expanse below; in- 
habited, doubtless, by thousands of animals, to which they afford 
both food and shelter, — animals unknown to man ; and I could 
sometimes observe large fishes of singular shape gliding softly 
through the watery thickets, unconscious of what was moving 
above them. As we proceeded the bottom became no longer 
visible ; its fairy scenes gradually faded to the view, and were lost 
in the dark green depths of the ocean." 





CHAPTER XIX. 

THE FLOATING NAVIGATORS OF THE OCEAN 

" Spread, tiny nautilus, the living sail, 
Dive at thy choice, or brave the freshening gale I 
If unreprov'd the ambitious eagle mount 
Sunward, to seek the daylight in its fount, 
Bays, gulfs, and ocean's Indian widths shall be 
Till the world perishes a field for thee." 

Wordsworth, 




MONG the most interesting and poetical illustrations of 
the wonders of the ocean are the singular floating 
animals, of which the Nautilus — called by Byron "the 
ocean Mab," "the Fairy of the Sea" — will be, undoubtedly, 
familiar to you from the great beauty of its shell, which renders 
it a favourite ornament in many houses. 

Very pretty stories and verses have been written on the sailing 
and rowing habits of these curious animals; and their appearance, 
when seen skimming the water, would strongly favour such ideas. 
The Dutch naturalist, Rumphius (who died in 1706), writing in 
the year previous to his decease, and giving an account of the 
rarities at Amboyna, the principal of the Molucca islands, says, 
"When the nautilus floats on the water, he puts out his head and 
all his tentacles, and spreads them upon the water; but at the 
bottom he creeps in a reversed position, with his boat above him, 
and with his head and tentacles (feelers) on the ground, making ,? 




THE NAUTILUS.— P. 1 95 



THE PAPER NAUTILUS. 195 

tolerably quick progress. He keeps himself chiefly on the ground, 
creeping also, sometimes, into the nets of the fishermen; but after 
a storm, as the weather gets calm, they are seen in troops, floating 
on the water, being driven up by the agitation of the waves. 
This sailing is not, however, of long continuance, for having taken 
in all their tentacles, they upset their boat and so return to the 
bottom." 

Until a comparatively recent period, very little was known of 
the nautilus; for, although shells were plentifully found on the 
shores of the warm seas it inhabits, the fish itself, living chiefly at 
the bottom of the sea, creeping like a snail, or lying in wait for 
runaway crabs or suchlike food, was difficult to obtain. How- 
ever, in 1829, a specimen was captured by Mr. Bennett, a naturalist, 
at the New Hebrides, and the great naturalist, Professor Owen, 
described the fish in a valuable memoir. The specimen is still 
preserved in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in 
London. Little could be known from the shell itself; but here 
was the tiny navigator of the ocean, that would ride out a storm 
in which the strongest man-of-war might founder, revealed in all 
its most curious mechanism ; the oars and aerial sails — to which 
Pope (among many others) alludes in his " Essay on Man/' 

" Learn of the little nautilus to sail, 
Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale," — 

disappearing, to give place to its real method of propulsion. 

The Paper Nautilus has eight tentacles, and one pair of these 
expand at their extremities into broad and thin membranes, which, 
I need scarcely tell you, compose a web of several sorts of fibres, 
interwoven for the wrapping up of some parts, the fibres giving 
them an elasticity by which they can contract and grasp the parts 
they contain — whence the fable received through so many ages, of 
its sails ; the membranous arms of the fish are the organs for se- 
creting and repairing the shells. 

The functions of the supposed sails of the paper nautilus were 
determined by an experiment. One of the " sails " was cut off in 
several living specimens, the right sail being removed in some, the 



196 THE GLAUCUS, A ROWER ON THE OCEAN. 

left in others ; and the creatures were then kept in a submarine 
cage, and supplied with food. Some of them survived the opera- 
tion for four months, when it was found that the shell had grown 
only on that side on which the membranous arm had been pre- 
served ; thus showing the animal to be the builder of its own habi- 
tation, and that the expanded arms do not serve the purposes of 
sails. 

A real rower on the ocean is the beautiful little blue and silver 
shell-fish, the G/aucus, also a tenant of the warm seas, who swims 
with great swiftness by aid of its conical and oar-like appendages. 
A wonderful builder is the nautilus, as you would find if you saw 
the chambers it fashions for its own accommodation; for the shell is 
divided into partitions, and as the animal increases in size it forms 
another and larger apartment proportionate to its growth, leaving 
the others empty as it proceeds, until, satisfied with its labours, it 
becomes the occupant of the highest chamber, though still com- 
municating with the cells it has abandoned, by means of a mem- 
branous tube which passes through the centre of each, enabling 
the nautilus, by throwing air or gas into the empty chambers, 
or by exhausting them of air, to rise or sink into the water at 
will. 

An American writer, O. W. Holmes, has written some very sweet 
verses on the peculiarity of this nautilus, which you will read with 
pleasure : 

" This is the ship of pearl, which poets feign 
Sails the unshadow'd main — 
The venturous bark that flings 
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings 
In gulfs enchanted, where the syren sings, 
And coral reef lies bare, 
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. 

" Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl, 
Wreck'd is the ship of pearl ! 
And ev'ry chamber'd cell 
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, 
As the frail tenant shap'd his growing shell, 
Before thee lies reveal'd — 
Its iris'd ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unseal'd I 



CHAMBERED DWELLING OF THE NAUTILUS, igy 

" Year after year beheld the silent toil 
That spread his lustrous coil ; 
Still, as the spiral grew, 
He left the past year's dwelling for the new, 
Still with soft step its shining archway through, 
Built up its idle door, 
Stretch'd in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. 

" Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, 
Child of the wandering sea, 
Cast from her lap, forlorn ! 
From thy dead lips a clearer note is borne 
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn ! 
While on mine ear it rings, — 
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings : 

•• ' Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 
As the swift seasons roll ! 
Leave thy low- vaulted past ! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 
Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea. ,w 

How truly wonderful is the intelligence displayed by the tiny 
nautilus in its chambered dwelling! " These beautiful arrange- 
ments," as the late Dean Buckland remarked, " are and ever have 
been subservient to a common object — the construction of hydrau- 
lic instruments, of essential importance in the economy of creatures 
destined to move sometimes at the bottom, and at other times 
upon or near the surface of the sea. The delicate adjustments 
whereby the same principle is extended through so many grades 
and modifications of a single type, show the uniform and constant 
agency of some controlling intelligence ; and in searching for the 
origin of so much method and regularity amidst variety, the mind 
can only rest when it has passed back through the subordinate 
series of second causes to the great First Cause, which is found in 
the will and power of a great Creator." 

The Pearly Nautilus, thus named from the shell being lined 
with a layer of the most beautiful pearly gloss, inhabits the Indian 
and Pacific Oceans. Nothing can exceed the pure loveliness oi 



*9& THE ARGONAUT. 



this " gem of the deep ; " the interior being white, like the finest 
porcelain, and streaked with reddish chestnut. It is highly prized 
in Eastern countries, where it is made into drinking-cups. The 
Chinese are particularly expert in manufacturing it into various 
ornaments. 

There are other floating navigators of the deep; among others, 
the Snail-slime-fishes ', which frequent the Arctic seas, and are found 
in immense quantities on the coast of Spitzbergen. The shell is 
the boat of this animal, which it rows through the water by a dip 
of its raised fins. In this act the open extremity of the shell is its 
prow, the opposite end occupies the place of a poop, and the mar- 
gin of the body resembles and performs the office of a keel. Otho 
Fabricius, in his " Fauna Greenlandica," says, " I have often seen 
it with admiration and pleasure. He can move in a retrograde 
manner. When weary with rowing, or when touched, the little 
boatman contracts his oary fins, and drawing within the shell, 
sinks to the bottom, where he rests for a short time. Then again 
he rises upwards, rowing obliquely until the surface is attained, 
when his course is held in a straight line over the trackless surge. 
When taken out of the shell, although without injury and in the 
water, he immediately dies." 

Before quitting the nautilus, I may add, that the shells of this 
" ocean navigator " abound in the coral seas, and are cast on shore 
in such profusion, that many tons' weight are collected at New 
Caledonia and the Figi Islands, and are conveyed to Sydney. 
The young shells, when polished, obtain a high price. 

The Argonaut differs from the true nautilus, inasmuch as its 
shell is not divided into chambers, but has one spiral cavity, into 
which the animal can entirely withdraw itself. From the dispro- 
portionate size of the last whorl (a wreath or turning of the spires 
of univalves, or shells of one piece only) it has some resemblance 
to a canoe, the spire representing the poop. If the waves rise or 
danger threatens, the argonaut withdraws all its arms into the shell, 
contracts itself there, and descends to the bottom. The body does 
not penetrate within the spire of the shell, nor does it adhere to 
it; at least, there is no muscular attachment, which led to the sup- 



THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR. 199 

position that it occupied a shell belonging to some other animal. 
This freebooting stigma does not belong to the argonaut, for ex- 
periments have proved that the animal is its own builder, and 
consequently a rightful tenant of his mansion. 

There is a curious and highly interesting floating object to which 
I would now draw your attention, the " Sea-Bladder " (Physalia 
pelagica, from the Greek fihyse, " a bladder "), called by our seamen 
the "Portuguese man-of-war," and by the French sailors the 
"galley" or "frigate." This singular zoophyte, or animal-plant, 
for it combines the two natures, is seen floating, sometimes singly, 
at other times in vast numbers, in the tropical seas, and attracted 
the attention of naturalists from a very early period. The notion 
of its sailing properties may have arisen in consequence of the 
crest which it has the power of erecting along the ridge of its 
back, which, when caught by the wind, assumes somewhat the 
appearance of a natural sail, by means of which it seems enabled 
to glide over the surface of the ocean. This, however, I should 
tell you, is not the case, as the creature does not move by this 
means, nor does it appear to possess the power of imparting any 
special direction to its course, which is entirely at the mercy of 
the winds and waves. The body itself, upon which the ridge or 
crest erects itself, is of a slight half-transparent character, and has 
somewhat the appearance of an unusually solid soap-bubble, glis- 
tening with a more than ordinary amount of various coloured 
hues. 

Mr. Bennett, in his " Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australia," 
describes this body as of delicate crimson tints, as he saw it floating 
on the waves. There are also veinings of rich purple, and opaline 
flashes of azure, orange, and green, changing in colour at every 
movement : and its long dependent tentacles or feelers are of the 
deepest purple. 

Dr. Collingwood mentions having observed these splendid zoo- 
phytes in the Atlantic Ocean, near the equator, sailing by from 
time to time during the day, and attracting attention by their large 
size and brilliant colour. " They had the appearance of beautiful 
prismatic shells, standing upright on a rich blue cushion, the cell 



$60 SEA-NETTLES. 



being radiated from the base or cushion to the circumference, 
which was fringed with a rich and bright rose-colour." Dr. Colling- 
wood captured several specimens, and the largest measured in the 
bladder eight inches, and the greatest vertical circumference ten 
inches and a quarter. Mr. Bennett says : " The long dependent 
tentacles or feelers are from four to five feet in length, and are 
capable of being extended much farther when shot off for the 
capture of prey." 

But the glory of these magnificent objects, so developed in their 
native element, fades, like sea-weeds, as the zoophyte is taken from 
its watery home, with the exception of the long tentacles, which 
retain their colour (dark purple) until decomposition takes place. 
" There is no rose without a thorn," is a well-known saying ; and 
this gaily-coloured zoophyte has a dangerous stinging property to 
those who handle it incautiously. Dr. Collingwood relates an 
instance of a sailor seeing one within reach from a boat, who took 
it up with his naked hands; the threads or elastic tentacles clung 
to his arm, causing the man to yell with agony. He was quickly 
brought on board, and ran about like a maniac, requiring several 
men to hold him. When secured, and the proper remedies applied, 
he rolled about for some time groaning with pain ; his arm was red, 
inflamed, and swollen, and remained so for some hours. 

Its earliest modern name of " sea-nettle " is derived from that 
conferred upon this class of marine creatures by Aristotle, in con- 
sequence of the burning sting caused by the poisonous tentacles 
or feelers of several members of this group ; a sting which leaves 
after it a white pimple, like that caused by a nettle. 

A remarkable interest is attached to the nautilus from the very 
remote periods of time to which it can be traced; fossils being 
found in the most ancient rocks in which shell animals have been 
discovered, in various parts of the world, living ages before the Flood 
in temperate and tropical seas. In the London clay, which forms 
such a large extent of the substratum (under layer of soil) of the 
great metropolis, lie buried vast numbers of the pearly shells of the 
nautilus, which, evidently at a great distance of time, found in our 
own country a congenial climate and home. The largest British 



THE AMMONITE. ioi 



specimens of the fossil nautilus occur in the carboniferous limestone, 
and you may see specimens of these in the British Museum more 
than a yard in length, and thick in proportion. 

In the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, 
you may see a specimen of the entire animal, soft parts and shell, 
of the pearly nautilus : a portion of the shell has been removed to 
show some of the chambers, and the membranous tube or syphon 
which traverses them. There is also a specimen of the paper nautilus 
(Argonauta Argo) suspended as when floating, with the expanded 
membranous arms in their natural position spread over the shell 
which they form and repair. 

Resembling somewhat in appearance the nautilus, the shell being 
chambered and spiral, but differing otherwise in some respects, was 
the primitive navigator of the ancient seas, the Ammonite, of which 
the shells now only remain, the most beautiful of all our fossils, 
and found in almost eveiy country in the world, upwards of two 
hundred species having been described. The name is derived from 
a fancied resemblance of its shell to the ram's horn ornaments on 
sculptured heads of Jupiter Amnion. They are of very different 
sizes, varying to even three or four feet in diameter. The larger 
ones were formerly taken for petrified snakes, and were found in 
great numbers at Whitby in Yorkshire. Sir Walter Scott alludes 
to this popular superstition in his poem of " Marmion," where the 
nuns of Whitby exultingly told 

*' How of thousand snakes, each one 
Was changed into a coil of stone, 
When holy Hilda pray'd." 

The visitors to Whitby are still invited to buy a petrified snake, 
and to add to their natural appearance, the mouth of the ammonite is 
carved into a head, and eyes are introduced made of coloured glass. 

The ammonite, with a shell a yard across, would have been an 
animal large in proportion to its body-chamber, and requiring a 
certain amount of water to be displaced by its shell, to move at ease 
along the bottom of the sea in search of its food. The shell of the 
ammonite, though of the same flat character as that of the nautilus, 
appears to have been much thinner; but, to compensate for this, 



202 AMMONITE AND NAUTILUS COMPARED. 

there were flutings which are seen in the surface, occasioned by 
the transverse (or crossing from corner to corner) ribs. The round 
knobs or bosses studding some of the ammonites were like gems 
on a diadem, adding strength as well as beauty to their form. The 
whorls or wreaths of the shell were rounder and more in number 
than that of the nautilus, and the tubes — the hydraulic instinct by 
which the chambers were supplied with air, or exhausted, for the 
ascent or descent of the animal — instead of running through the 
cells like that of the nautilus, went round the chambers of the 
ammonite. 

How strange are the vicissitudes of all created things ! While 
some survive the shocks and rents of time, others are known only 
as fossil memorials of the primitive world. The nautilus still rides 
on the crest of the ocean waves, but the ammonite — long, long 
since removed from the element in which it lived — only remains 
as a petrifaction to tell of its existence in ages before the Flood. 

A poet and geologist (Richardson) has alluded to this in some 
charming verses : 

"The nautilus and the ammonite 

Were launch'd in storm and strife, 
Each sent to float, in its tiny boat, 
On the wide, wild sea of life. 

"And each could swim on the ocean's brim. 
And anon its sails could furl, 
And sink to sleep in the great sea-deep, 
In a palace all of pearl. 

" Thus, hand in hand, from strand to strand 
They sailed in mirth and glee, 
Those fairy shells, with their crystal cells, 
Twin creatures of the sea ! 

"But they came at last to a sea long past, 
And as they reach'd the shore, 
The Almighty's breath spoke out in death, 
And the ammonite lived no more. 

"And the nautilus now, in its shelly prow, 
As o'er the deep it strays, 
Still seems to seek, in bay and creek, 
Its companion of other days. 



FLOATING SHELLS. 203 

" And thus do we, on life's stormy sea, 
As we roam from shore to shore, 
While tempest-toss'd, seek the loved, the lost, 
But find them on earth no more." 

I must not omit to mention the little floating Ptcropoda (from 
two Greek words signifying "a wing" and "a foot"), or Wing- 
shells, the inhabitants of which pass their entire life in the sea far 
away from any shelter except that afforded by the floating Gulf- 
weed, and whose organization is peculiarly adapted to that sphere 
of existence. In appearance they strikingly resemble the fry of 
the ordinary sea-snails, swimming, like them, by the vigorous flap- 
ping of a pair of fins. To the naturalist on shore they are almost 
unknown, but the voyager on the great ocean meets them where 
there is little else to arrest his attention, and marvels at their 
delicate forms and almost incredible numbers. They swarm in 
the tropical, and no less the Arctic seas, where by their myriads 
(as Scoresby informs us), the water is discoloured by them for 
leagues. They are seen swimming on the surface in the heat of 
the day, as well as in the cool of the evening. In high latitudes 
they are the principal food of the whale and of many sea-birds. 

Another floating inhabitant of the deep is described by Mr. 
Adams as the beautiful Ianthina or Ocean-Snail, which is quite 
blind, and has large horny mandibles (jaws), furnished with sharp, 
curved, slender teeth. This animal is remarkable for floating shell 
downwards in the water, and Mr. Adams tells us that the anterior 
part of the foot forms a shallow cup, which embraces the smooth 
anterior rounded part of the float. Thus the fish can raise or 
lower itself in the water at pleasure. When it wishes to bring its 
head to the surface of the water, this part of the foot is made to 
glide over the back of the float. The floats are made of a mucous 
film containing air; and when cut with scissors, the animal de- 
scended to the bottom of the vessel in which it was consigned, and 
did not make a new one. 

The nautili belong to a class called Cephalopoda by Linnaeus, 
(from the Greek, kephale, "head," and pous, "foot," so named from 
the singular attachment of the feet to the head — locomotive organs 



264 CUTTLE-FISH. 



employed as oars or feet when moving along the bottom of the sea, 
and consisting of a circlet of muscular arms or tentacles, in addi- 
tion to which many of this class have fins. To this same definition 
of Linnaeus belong the Cuttle-fish, the bony scale on the back of 
which you must have frequently picked up on the sea-shore, and 
which is employed for making pounce, tooth-powder, for polishing, 
and other purposes in the arts. 

The common cuttle-fish is abundant on the English coasts. Its 
skin is smooth, whitish, and dotted with red. It attains the length 
of a foot or more, and is one of the pests of the fishermen, de- 
vouring partially the fish which have been caught in their nets. 
The eggs of the cuttle-fish are frequently cast on shore clustered 
together. Singularly interesting is the study of these creatures, 
which are provided with a means of escaping danger, in their ink- 
bags, from which they can at will emit a fluid, darkening the water 
and thus enabling them to get off. This natural ink of the fish is 
employed in painting; Cicero tells us that it was anciently used 
for writing with. 

Another property possessed by this class of animals is, that if 
any of its tentacles or feelers are bitten off, which is often the 
case — the conger eel having a special relish for the dainty morsel 
— others supply their place, the power of reproduction being given 
to them. The whale also regales on the cuttle-fish, and the plaice 
tribe have the same partiality. The most common species form 
the bait with which one-half of the cod taken at Newfoundland 
are caught. 

The general description of the cuttle-fish may be thus described : 
the body oblong, or longer than broad, and depressed, sac-like, 
with two narrow lateral fins of similar substance with the mantle 
(the outside skin of shell-fish, which covers a great part of the 
body, like a cloak). There is an internal shell lodged in a sac on 
the back part of the mantle, somewhat oval and bladder-shaped, 
being comparatively thick near the anterior end, where it is termi- 
nated by a sharp point, affixed, as it were, to its general outline. 
The whole shell is light and porous, and is formed of thin plates, 
with intervening spaces, divided by innumerable partitions, and 



STORIES RESPECTING CUTTLE-FISH. 205 

consists chiefly of carbonate of lime, with a little gelatinous and 
other animal matter, which is most abundant in the internal harder 
part of the shell. The eyes are very large, and the head is furnished 
with eight arms, each of which has four rows of suckers and two 
long tentacles, expanded and furnished with suckers on one side 
at the extremity. Cuttle-fish are enabled to leap out of the water 
by the sudden extension, not of their tails, but of their numerous 
arms, or other processes from their bodies. 

In hot climates some of the species of cuttle-fish grow to a pro- 
digious size, and are furnished with a fearful apparatus of arms with 
suckers, by which they can rigidly fasten upon and convey their 
prey to the mouth. In the eight-armed species which inhabit the 
Indian seas these tentacles are said to be no less than nine fathoms 
in length. 

Extraordinary stories have been related of these animals. Pliny 
mentions the head of one which was as large as a cask, the arms 
thirty-six feet long. They are described as first darting from side 
to side in the pools, and fixing themselves so tenaciously to the 
surface of the stones that great force was required to remove them. 
When thrown upon the sand, they progressed rapidly in a sidelong 
shuffling manner, throwing about their long arms, ejecting their 
inky fluid in sudden violent jets, and staring about with their shining 
eyes in a grotesque and hideous manner. As food it was highly 
prized by the ancients, and is still much esteemed in some parts of 
the world. It is regularly exposed for sale in the markets at Naples, 
Smyrna, and in the bazaars of India. In a curious Japanese book 
there is a picture of a man in a boat engaged in catching cuttle- 
fishes with a spear; and also of a fishmonger's shop in Japan, where 
a number of enormous cuttle-fishes are represented hanging up for 
sale. 

The Rev. Mr. Stewart relates that at Siho Siho, Pauchi, a queen 
ot one of the Pacific islands, was one day seated in the Turkish 
fashion on the ground, with a large wooden tray in her lap. On 
this a monstrous cuttle-fish had been placed, fresh from the sea 
and in all its life and vigour. The queen had taken it up in both 
hands and brought its body to her mouth, and by a single appli- 



206 FISHING WITH THE CUTTLE-FISH. 

cation of her teeth the black juices and blood with which it was 
filled gushed over her face and neck, while the long sucking arms 
of the fish, in the convulsive paroxysm of the operation, were 
writhing about her head like snakes. A more disgusting picture of 
epicurism it would be difficult to imagine. 

Columbus describes the mode of fishing with the cuttle-fish 
pursued^ in his time by the natives of Santa Marta : 

" They had a small fish, the flat head of which was furnished 
with numerous suckers, by which it attached itself so firmly to 
any object as to be torn in pieces rather than abandon its hold. 
Tying a line of great length to the tail of this fish, the Indians 
permitted it to swim at large. It generally kept near the surface of 
the water until it perceived its prey, when, darting down swiftly, 
it attached itself by its suckers to the throat of a fish, or to the 
under shell of a tortoise, nor did it relinquish its prey until both 
were drawn up by the fisherman, and taken out of the water." 

In this way the Spaniards witnessed the taking of a tortoise of 
immense size, and Fernando Columbus himself affirms that he saw 
a shark caught in this manner on the coast of Veragua. 

This account, strange as it may seem, has been corroborated by 
various navigators, and the same mode of fishing is said to be 
employed on the eastern coast of Africa, at Mozambique, and at 
Madagascar. 

The South Sea Islanders have a curious contrivance for taking 
the cuttle-fish, which resort to the holes of the coral rocks, and 
protrude their arms or tentacles for the bait, but remain themselves 
firm within the retreat. The instrument employed for taking them 
consists of a straight piece of hard wood, a foot long, round and 
polished, and not half an inch in diameter. Near one end of this 
a number of the most beautiful pieces of the cowry or tiger-shell 
are fastened, one over the other, like the scales of a fish or the 
plates of apiece of armour, until it is about the size of a turkey's 
egg, and resembles the cowry. It is suspended in an horizontal 
position by a strong line, and is lowered by the fisherman from a 
small canoe until it nearly reaches the bottom. The fisherman 
then gently jerks the line, causing the shell to move as if it wer§ 



CONTRIVANCE FOR TAKING THE CUTTLE-FISH. 207 



inhabited by a fish. The cuttle-fish, attracted, it is supposed, by 
the appearance of the cowry (for no bait is used), darts out one 
of its arms, which it winds round the shell and fastens among the' 
openings between the plates. The fisherman continues jerking the 1 
line, and the fish puts* out successively its other arms until it has 
fastened itself to the shells, when it is drawn up into the canoe 
and secured. 

In conclusion, I will mention that the cuttle-fish belongs to a 
period before the Flood, like the nautili ; their undigested fossil 
remains are frequently noticed within the ribs of the Ichthyosauri 
and Plesiosauri in the limestone rocks, showing that then, as in 
the present day, to eat and to be eaten was the general law of 
nature. 





^ 




i 



CHAPTER XX. 

PHENOMENA OF THE OCEAN— ATMOSPHERIC 
INFLUENCES. 

"Truly great and transcendantly beautiful, O Jehovah! are 
these Thy works even here below. Framed they are in profound 
wisdom, disclosing all their charms only to our lens-aided eyes. 
How grand, then, will be those which — when the glass has been 
removed in which we see darkly — when this mist of mortality has 
been scattered — Thou art pledged to reveal hereafter to Thy 
servants that have worshipped Thee here in sincerity and truth!" 

Hedwig. 



j HE navigators in the Northern seas have the opportunity 
of witnessing to perfection some curious phenomena, 
among which I may mention the Mirage, a name given 
by the French to an optical deception in the atmosphere by which 
a ship appears as if transferred to the sky. These appearances 
were regarded by the credulous, in former times, as supernatural ; 
but they are referred to the refractive and reflective properties of 
the atmosphere. Not only is there an increase in the vertical Jj 
dimensions of the objects affected, so that low coasts frequently 
assume a bold and precipitous outline, but objects sunk below the 
horizon are brought into view with their natural position changed 
and distorted. 

Dr. Hayes, in his " Open Polar Sea," gives the following vivid 
description of the optical delusion : 

"These Arctic skies," he says, "do sometimes play fantastic 



THE MIRAGE OF THE POLAR SEAS. 209 

tricks, and on no occasion have I witnessed the exhibition to such 
perfection. The atmosphere had a rare softness, and throughout 
almost the whole day there was visible a most remarkable mirage, 
or refraction, an event of very frequent occurrence during the calm 
days of the Arctic summer. The entire horizon was lifting and 
doubling itself continually, and objects at a great distance beyond 
it rose, as if by strange enchantment, and stood suspended in the 
air, changing shape with each changing moment. Distant icebergs 
and floating ice-fields, and coast-lines and mountains, were thus 
brought into view — sometimes preserving for a moment their 
natural shapes, then widening and lengthening, rising and falling, 
as the wind fluttered or fell calm over the sea. The changes were 
as various as the dissolving images of a kaleidoscope, and every 
form the imagination could conceive stood out against the sky. 
At one moment a sharp spire, the prolonged image of a distant 
mountain-peak would shoot up, and this would fashion itself into 
a cross, or a spear, or a human form, and would then die away, to 
be replaced by an iceberg, which appeared as a castle standing 
upon the summit of a hill, and the ice-fields coming up with it 
flanked it on either side, seeming at one moment like a plain, 
dotted with trees and animals ; again, as rugged mountains, and 
then breaking up after awhile, disclosed a long line of bears, and 
dogs, and birds, men dancing in the air and skipping from the sea 
to the sky. There was no end to the forms which appeared every 
instant, melting into other shapes as suddenly. For hours we 
watched the ' insubstantial pageant,' until a wind from the north 
ruffled the sea, when, with its first breath, the whole scene melted 
away as quickly as the ' baseless fabric ' of Prospero's vision." 

Scoresby, during a voyage to the eastern coast of Greenland, 
was amused by the singular refractive power of the Polar atmo- 
sphere. The rugged surface of the coast assumed the form of castles, 
obelisks, and spires, which here and there were linked together, 
so as to present the appearance of an extensive city. At other 
times it resembled a forest of naked trees, and it was easy to con- 
ceive colossal statues, porticoes of rich and regular architecture, 
shapes of lions, bears, horses, &c. Ships were seen inverted, and 

14 



no the Aurora bore a its. 

— .I.. — .. . i . , ,-, ,■ ■ , 

suspended high in the air, and their hulls often so magnified as to 
resemble huge edifices. Objects really beneath the horizon were 
raised into view in a most extraordinary manner. It seems positively 
ascertained, that points on the Greenland shore, not above three 
or four thousand feet high, were seen at the distance of one hundred 
and sixty miles. The extensive evaporation of the melting ice, 
with the unequal condensation produced by streams of cold air, 
are considered as the chief sources of this extraordinary refraction. 

The same navigator relates that when in the Polar Sea, his ship 
had been separated for some time from that of his father, which 
he had been looking out for with great anxiety. At length, one 
evening, to his astonishment, he beheld the vessel suspended in 
the air in an inverted position, with the most distinct and perfect 
representation. Sailing in the direction of this visionary appear- 
ance, he met with the real ship by this indication. It was found 
that the vessel had been thirty miles distant, and seventeen be- 
yond the horizon, where her appearance was thus elevated into the 
air by this extraordinary refraction. 

Sometimes two images of a vessel are seen, the one erect and 
the other inverted, with their topmasts and their hulls meeting, 
according as the inverted image is above or below the other. 

"The most remarkable instance of mirage I have seen," says 
Dr. Kelly, " was that in which a vessel, with all sails set, at one 
moment looked like an immense black chest, no sails or masts 
being visible. On observing her for a time, the black body seemed 
to separate horizontally into two parts, and two sets of mingled 
sails occupied the intervening spaces, with one set of very small 
sails above. The figures afterwards became more distinct, and 
three images were clearly discerned. Another vessel changed, 
also, from the form of a great square flat-topped chest, to five dis- 
tinct images, the upper with the sails erect, and the two lower 
double images with their sails rather confusedly intermingled." 

Another phenomenon which is seen in its highest perfection in 
the Polar seas is the Aurora Eorealis, or the " Northern Day- 
break," so named from its appearance in that part of the heavens, 
and its close resemblance to the aspect of the sky before sunrise. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AURORA BORE A LIS. lit 

The lines of James Montgomery on this grand spectacle of nature 
are very fine : 

" Midnight hath told his hour; the moon, yet young, 

Hangs in the argent west, her bow unstrung ; 

Larger and fairer, as her lustre fades, 

Sparkle the stars amidst the deepening shades : 

Jewels more rich than night's regalia gem 

The distant ice-blink's spangled diadem ; 

Like a new morn from Orient darkness, there 

Phosphoric splendours kindle in mid-air, 

As though from heaven's self-opening portals came 

Legions of spirits in an orb of flame, — 

Flame that from every point an arrow sends, 

Far as the concave firmament extends ; 

Spun with the tissue of a million lines, 

Glistening like gossamer the welkin shines ; 

The constellations in their pride look pale 

Through the quick trembling brilliance of that veil; 

Then, suddenly converged, the meteors rush 

O'er the wide south ; one deep vermilion blush 

O'erspreads Orion glaring on the flood, 

And rabid Sirius foams through fire and blood. * 

Again the circuit of the pole they range, 

Motion and figure every moment change, 

Through all the colours of the rainbow run, 

Or blaze like wrecks of a dissolving sun : 

Wide ether burns with glory, conflict, flight, 

And the glad ocean dances in the light." 

During the winter of the Northern Hemisphere, the inhabitants 
of the Arctic zone, as I have informed you, are without the light 
of the sun for months together, and their long dreary night is 
relieved by the light of this meteor, which occurs with great fre- 
quency in those regions, and the exceeding beauty of which those 
who have seen it only in our latitudes can hardly conceive. It is 
generally described as an immense curtain, waving its folds like 
the canopy of an ample tent agitated by the wind, and fringed 
with a border of light of the richest colours and most vivid bril- 
liancy. It is sometimes seen for a few minutes only, or an hour, or 
through the whole night, and through several nights in succession. 

A dingy aspect of the sky in the direction of the north is gene* 

14 — 2 



ii2 ELECTRICAL ORIGIN OF THE AURORA BORLALlS. 

rally the precursor of the Aurora, and this gradually becomes darker 
in colour, and assumes the form of a circular segment, surrounded 
by a luminous arch, and resting at each end on the horizon. Some- 
times the blue sky is seen between the cloud and the horizon. 
After shooting a number of rays or streamers, the dark part of 
the cloud generally changes and becomes very luminous. The 
rays continue to be shot from the upper edge, sometimes at some 
distance, or very close to each other. Their light is very dazzling ; 
bright columns slowly issue upwards from openings in the main 
cloud, becoming broader as they proceed. When the Aurora 
attains its full brightness and activity, rays are projected from 
every part of the arch, and if they do not rise too high, it presents 
the appearance of a comb furnished with teeth. When the rays 
are very bright, they assume a green, violet, purple, or rose-colour, 
giving to the whole a variegated and I rilliant effect. The height 
of the Aurora has been differently estimated, but it has been sel- 
dom found to exceed ninety miles ; but its geographical extent is 
enormous. The origin of the phenomenon is yet unexplained, 
but it is generally supposed to be electrical. Franklin regarded 
it as the result of a slow and continual discharge of electric fluid 
from the atmosphere about the poles to the air above; and Sir 
Humphrey Davy and other electricians noticed the striking simi- 
larity between the Northern Lights and electricity discharged 
through rarefied air. 

The Aurora has been observed in almost every part of the world. 
The ancients regarded its appearance with great terror, as the pre- 
cursor of dire events ; and there is no doubt that the fiery meteors, 
representing to their imaginations armies fighting in the heavens, 
and described by many writers as having preceded remarkable 
occurrences, must have been this phenomenon. The Indians also 
regarded these lights as the spirits of their fathers roaming through 
the land of souls. This idea may have originated from the long 
streaks of light which spread out with inconceivable swiftness, but 
always appearing to move to and from a fixed point, somewhat 
like a ribbon held in the hand and shaken. 

Other luminous meteors are seen by the navigators of the 



HA LOS AND MOCK SUNS. 213 

Northern Ocean to perfection, arising, apparently, from the re- 
fraction caused by the minute and highly crystallized particles of 
ice floating in the atmosphere. The s.un and moon are often 
surrounded by Halos, circles of vapour, tinted with the brightest 
hues of the rainbow. Arctic voyagers frequently mention the fall 
of icy particles during a clear sky and a bright sun, so small as to 
.be scarcely visible to the naked eye, and detected by their melting 
on the skin ; and others larger, presenting a remarkably interesting 
appearance. M'Clintock, in his " Voyage of the Fox/' observes : 
"The snow crystals of last night are extremely beautiful; the 
largest kind is an inch in length, and its form exactly resembles 
the end of a pointed feather. Stellar crystals, two-tenths of an inch 
in diameter, have also fallen ; these have six points, and are the 
most exquisite things when seen under a microscope. In the sun, or 
even in moonlight, all these crystals glisten most brilliantly, and 
as our masts and rigging are abundantly covered with them, the 
1 Fox ' was never so gorgeously arrayed as she now appears/' 

Parhelia (from Greek words "near the sun"), or mock suns, in 
the vicinity of the real orb, shine at once in different quarters of 
the firmament. They are most brilliant at daybreak, diminish in 
lustre as the sun ascends, but again brighten at his setting. Sir 
Edward Parry describes a parhelion of remarkably gorgeous ap- 
pearance which he saw during a winter's sojourn at Melville Island. 
It continued from noon until six in the evening. It consisted of 
one complete halo, with segments of several others, displaying in 
parts the colours of the rainbow. Besides these, there was another 
perfect ring, of a pale white colour, which went right round the 
sky parallel with the horizon, and at a distance from it equal to 
the sun's altitude, and a horizontal band of white light appeared 
passing through the sun. Where the band and the inner halo cut 
each other, there were two parhelia, and another close to the 
horizon, directly under the sun, which formed the most brilliant 
part of the spectacle, being exactly like the sun slightly obscured 
by a thin cloud at his rising or setting. 

A singular phenomenon observed on the Arctic seas by Mr. 
O'Reilly is mentioned in his account pf Greenland. The atrnp- 



214 THE ICE-BLINK. 



sphere had been obscured by a fog, and the sunlight, falling on the 
mist, formed an ellipsis, strongly illuminated, apparently rising from 
the surface of the ocean to the upper edge of the mist. The inner 
edge was pearly white, with the faintest tinge of blue ; the middle 
yellowish, deepening into brown and purple; the outer edge a 
blackish blue. In the centre of this oval, Mr. O'Reilly, who had 
ascended into the hurricane-house, saw reflected his whole figure, 
of a colossal size, the head surrounded by a circle of the brightest 
rainbow colours. 

The sun, for some time before it finally departs for the Arctic 
winter, and also after its reappearance in spring, tinges the sky with 
hues of matchless splendour, which far outvie even the glory of an 
Italian sky. The edges of the clouds near the sun often present 
a fiery or burnished appearance, whilst the opposite horizon glows 
with a deep purple, gradually softening into a delicate rose colour 
of inconceivable beauty. 

Another phenomenon which meets the eye of the Arctic navigator 
is the Ice-blink; a peculiar brightness in the atmosphere which is 
almost always perceptible on approaching ice. It is a stratum of 
clear whiteness, occasioned evidently by the glare of light reflected 
obliquely from the surface of the ice against the opposite atmo- 
sphere. This shining streak, which looks always brightest in clear 
weather, indicates to the experienced navigator, twenty or thirty 
miles beyond the limit of direct vision, not only the extent and 
figure, but even the quality, of the ice. The blink from packs of 
ice appears of a pure white, while that which is occasioned by 
snow-fields has some tinge of yellow. 

James Montgomery, in his " Greenland," has, in very beautiful 
lines, alluded to this phenomenon : 

" ,r Tis sunset: to the firmament serene 
The Atlantic wave reflects a gorgeous scene. 
Broad in the cloudless west, a belt of gold 
Girds the blue hemisphere ; above unroll'd 
The keen clear air grows palpable to sight, 
Embodied in a flush of crimson light, 
Through which the evening star with milder gleam 
Descends to meet her image in the stream. 



THE 7 IDE-RIP. 21 S 

Far in the east, what spectacle unknown 

Allures the eye to gaze on it alone ? 

— Amidst black rocks, that lift on either hand 

Their countless peaks, and mark receding land, 

Amidst a tortuous labyrinth of seas, 

That shine around the Arctic cyclades, 

Amidst a coast of dreariest continent, 

In many a shapeless promontory rent, 

O'er rocks, seas, islands, promontories spread, 

The ice-blink rears its undulated head, 

On which the sun, beyond th' horizon shrined, 

Hath left his richest garniture behind. 

Piled on a hundred arches, ridge by ridge, 

O'er fix'd and fluid, strides the Alpine bridge, 

Whose blocks of sapphire seem to mortal eye 

Hewn from cerulean quarries of the sky ; 

With glacier-battlements that crowd the spheres, 

The slow creation of six thousand years, 

Amidst immensity it towers sublime, 

Winter's eternal palace, built by Time : 

All human structures by his touch are borne 

Down to the dust ; mountains themselves are worn 

With his light footsteps : here for ever grows, 

Amidst the region of unmelting snows, 

A monument, where every flake that falls 

Gives adamantine firmness to the walls." 

Another phenomenon remarked by Northern voyagers is the 
Tide-rip ; a commotion in the waters not unlike that produced by 
a conflict of tides or of other powerful currents. These sometimes 
move along with a roaring noise, and the inexperienced navigator 
expects to find his vessel drifted by them a long way out of his 
course ; " But," observes Maury, " the next day, at noon, he re- 
marks with surprise that no current has been felt. These are signs 
of the tremendous throes which occur in the bosom of the ocean. 
Sometimes the sea recedes from the shore, as if to gather strength 
for a great rush against its barriers. The 6 tide- rip ' in mid-ocean — 
the waves dashing against the shore — the ebb and flow of the 
tides, may be regarded in some sense as the throbbings of the 
great sea-pulse." 

Directing your attention to other latitudes, I will now allude to 



216 LUMINOSITY OF THE OCEAN. 

that wonderful and beautiful object, the Luminosity of the Ocean, 
which prevails frequently throughout the tropical seas. 

' ' With scarce inferior lustre gleamed the sea, 

Whose waves were spangled with phosphoric fire, 
As though the lightning there had spent their shafts, 
And left the fragments glittering on the field." 

This proceeds, as Herschel observes, from a great variety of 
marine organisms, some soft and gelatinous, and some minute 
shelly animals. They mostly shine when excited by a blow or by 
agitation of the water, as when a fish darts along or oar dashes, or 
in the wake of a ship, when the water closes on its track. In the 
latter case are often seen what appear to be large lamps of light 
rising from under the keel, and floating out to the surface, appa- 
rently of many inches in diameter. One of the most remarkable 
of these luminous creatures is a species of JPyrosoma (from the 
Greek "fire" and "body"), a species of shell animals with muff- 
shaped bodies upwards of an inch in length, which, when thrown 
down on deck, burst into a glow so strong as to appear like lumps 
of white-hot iron. 

Frederick Martens, one of the early navigators, describes this 
illumination of the ocean in very expressive terms : 

"At night, when the sea dasheth very much, it shines like fire : 
the seamen call it burning. This shining is a very bright glance, 
like unto the lustre of a diamond." 

Dr. Collingwood, in his " Rambles of a Naturalist," thus alludes 
to this phenomenon : 

" There are few subjects of study more interesting than the lumi- 
nous appearance presented by the sea under various circumstances. 
That the sea, the great extinguisher of fire, should be turned into 
llame — that the darkness of night should be illuminated by the 
luminous glow which bathes every ripple and breaks over every 
wave — that globes of light should traverse the ocean, or that light- 
ning flashes should coruscate no less in the billows of the sea than in 
the clouds of the air — are all facts which seize on the imagination. 
Nor is the interest lessened by the knowledge that all these pheno- 
mena are produced by animals whose home is in the great waters ; 



SPLENDOUR OF THE PHENOMENON. 217 

that not only do the fiery bodies of large animals give out steady 
patches of light, but that of the myriad animalculae with which 
the sea teems, like motes in a sunbeam, each contributes its tiny 
scintillation, the aggregate forming a soft and lovely radiance." 

Quatrefages, the French naturalist, gives a vivid description of a 
luminous sea: 

" It exhibited to us in all its splendour the glorious phenomena 
of its phosphorescence. For more than an hour the waters around 
us seemed to be kindled into a blaze of light, as if they had bor- 
rowed some of the hidden fires of Stromboli. The waves, as they 
broke along the rocky shore of Sicily, encircled it with a glowing 
band of light, whilst every projecting cliff was circled with a wreath 
of fire. Our boat seemed as if it were opening for itself a passage 
through some glowing and fused liquid, whilst in its wake it left a 
long track of light, each stroke of the oar brightening the bosom 
of the waves with a broad silver gleam. The water that was taken 
up in a bucket presented the appearance of molten lead, as we 
slowly poured it back into the sea. Everywhere over this brilliant 
surface of calm light myriads of dazzling green sparks and globes 
of fire were flashing, quivering, and dying amidst the undulations 
of the waves, and these sparks and globes of fire were so many 
living beings. At certain times of the year these miscroscopical 
beings acquire the property of emitting light at each muscular con- 
traction; and hence every movement in these animalculae is made 
apparent by a luminous flash." 

Mr. Edmonds, in his "Land's End District," alludes to the 
luminous waters frequently witnessed in Mount's Bay : 

" On these occasions," he observes, " particularly when the night 
is dark, if a fish rise from the calm water, a most brilliant and 
beautiful effect is produced. Were you, from a boat, to look down 
into the sea while fishes were darting to and fro, their paths would 
be luminous, and the deep would be traversed by streams of light 
as bright and beautiful as those of stars shooting through the sky. 
If you draw in your fishing-line, it will appear as a line of fire, and 
the fish at the end of it like a ball of fire coming near you. A net 
suspended in the sea appears ' like a brilliant lacework of fire,' and 



218 DARWIN'S DESCRIPTION OF A LUMINOUS OCEAN 

the fishes may be seen carefully avoiding it. When fishermen by 
night wish to know whether any fish are near, they stamp on the 
bottom of the boat, and instantly, if there are any beneath, they 
will be seen darting away in all directions. By this means, in some 
parts of Cornwall, the fishery is pursued by night." 
Crabbe has some beautiful lines on this subject : 

"And now your view upon the ocean turn, 
And there the splendour of the waves discern. 
Cast but a stone, or strike them with an oar, 
And you shall flames within the deep explore; 
Or scoop the stream phosphoric as you stand, 
And the cold flames shall flash along your hand ; 
When, lost in wonder, you shall walk and gaze 
On weeds that sparkle, and on waves that blaze." 

To these observations I may add the interesting description of 
this phenomenon, as witnessed in the vicinity of the Plata by the 
distinguished Darwin : 

" One very dark night the sea presented a very beautiful and 
singular appearance. There was a fresh breeze, and every part of 
the surface which, during the day, is seen as foam, now glowed with 
a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two billows of 
liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed by a milky 
train. As far as the eye reached, the crest of every wave was 
bright, and the sky above the horizon, from the reflected glare of 
these livid flames, was not so utterly obscure as over the vault of 
the heavens. As we proceed farther southward, the sea is seldom 
phosphorescent, probably owing to the scarcity of organic beings 
in that part of the ocean. The same torn and irregular particles 
of gelatinous matter described by Ehrenberg seem, in the Southern 
as well as in the Northern Hemisphere, to be the common cause 
of this phenomenon. The particles were so minute as easily to 
pass through fine gauze, yet many were distinctly visible by the 
naked eye. The water, when placed in a tumbler and agitated, 
gave out sparks, but a small portion in a watch-glass scarcely ever 
was luminous. Ehrenberg states that all these particles retain a 
certain degree of irritability. My observations gave a different 



FORMATION OF WATER-SPOUTS. 2i§ 

result. Having used the net one night, I allowed it to become 
partially dry, and twelve hours after, having occasion to employ it 
again, I found the whole surface sparkle as brightly as when first 
taken out of the water. It does not appear probable, in this case, 
that the particles could have remained so long alive. When the 
waves scintillate with bright green sparks, I believe it is generally 
owing to minute Crustacea (hard-covered animals) ; but there can 
be no doubt that very many other pelagic (belonging to the deep 
sea) animals, when alive, are phosphorescent. The phenomenon 
is the result of the decomposition of the organic particles, by which 
process the ocean becomes purified." 

* ' The lamps of the sea-nymphs. 
Myriad fiery globes, swim heaving and panting ; and rainbows — 
Crimson, azure, and emerald — are broken in star-showers, lighting, 
Far through the now dark depths of the crystal, the gardens of Nereus, 
Coral and sea-fan and tangle, the bloom and the palms of the ocean. " 

In the chapter on " Superstitions connected with the Ocean," I 
have alluded to Water-spouts, and the superstitious terror excited 
by them among the mariners of former times. I will merely offer 
a few remarks on this subject in connexion with the phenomena of 
the ocean. I may describe it as an aqueous meteor, occasioned 
by the action of a whirlwind upon the surface of the sea. The air, 
revolving rapidly, sucks the water up, and the fluid thus attracted 
is received by the low and dense clouds, always attendant upon 
such occasions, through a trumpet-shaped spout, that moves with, 
and seems to be guided by, the motion of the particular cloud to 
which it is attached. When fully formed, the water-spouts appear 
as tall pillars of cloud, stretching from the sea to the sky, whirling 
round their axes. The sea at the base of the whirling vortices is 
thrown into the most violent commotion. Falconer, in the " Ship- 
wreck," thus alludes to this phenomenon : 

"Tall Ida's summit now more distant grew, 
And Jove's high hill was rising on the view, 
When, from the left approaching, they descry 
A liquid column towering shoot on high. 
The foaming base an angry whirlwind sweeps, 
Where curling billows rouse the fearful deeps % 



220 DANGERS FROM WATER-SPOUTS, 

Still round and round the fluid vortex flies, 
Scattering dun night and horror through the skies. 
The swift volution, and the enormous train, 
Let sages versed in Nature's lore explain.'' 

The Greeks applied the term u pr ester" to the water-spout, 
which signifies a fiery fluid, from its appearance being generally 
accompanied with flashes of lightning and a sulphureous smell, 
showing the activity of the electrical principle in the air. Lucretius 
refers to this in the following terms : 

" Hence, with much ease, the meteor we may trace, 
Termed, from its essence, Prester by the Greeks, 
That oft from heaven wide hovers o'er the deep. 
Like a vast column, gradual from the skies, 
Prone o'er the waves descends it ; the vex'd tide 
Boiling amain beneath its mighty whirl, 
And with destruction sure the stoutest ship 
Threat'ning that dares the boist'rous scene approach." 

A few minutes suffices in general for the duration of this pheno- 
menon, but several have been known to continue for nearly an 
hour. In the Mediterranean as many as sixteen water-spouts have 
been observed at the same time. The principal danger seems to 
be from the wind blowing in sudden gusts in their vicinity from all 
points of the compass, sufficient to overwhelm small vessels carry- 
ing much sail. 

Mr. Ellis, in a cruise amongst the islands of the Pacific Ocean, 
had, on more than one occasion, a perilous escape from these phe- 
nomena. At one time the weather seemed clearing from a previous 
storm, when one of the native boatmen pointed to a large cylin- 
drical water-spout, extending like a massive column from the ocean 
to the dark impending clouds : 

"It was not very distant, and seemed moving towards our 
apparently devoted boat. The roughness of the sea forbade our 
attempting to hoist a sail in order to avoid it ; and as we had no 
other means of safety at command, we endeavoured calmly to await 
its approach. The natives abandoned themselves to despair, and 
either threw themselves along at the bottom of the boat, or sat 
crouching on the keel, with their faces downwards and their eyes 



NARROW ESCAPE FROM WATER-SPOUTS. 22 i 

covered with their hands. The sailor kept at the helm. Mr. Barff 
sat on one side of the stern, and I on the other, watching the 
alarming object before us. While thus employed we saw two other 
water-spouts, and subsequently a third, if not more, so that we 
seemed almost surrounded with them. Some were well defined, 
extending in an unbroken line from the sea to the sky, like pillars 
resting on the ocean as their basis, and supporting the clouds ; 
others assuming the shape of a funnel or inverted cone, attached 
to the clouds, and extending towards the waters beneath. From 
the distinctness with which we saw them, notwithstanding the den- 
sity of the atmosphere, the farthest could not be many miles dis- 
tant. In some we could imagine to have traced the spiral motion 
of the water as it was drawn to the clouds, which were every 
moment augmenting their portentous darkness. The sense, how- 
ever, of personal danger and immediate destruction if brought 
within the vortex of their influence, restrained in a great degree 
all curious, and what, in other circumstances, would have been in- 
teresting observation on the wonderful phenomena around us, the 
mighty agitation of the elements, and the terrific sublimity of these 
wonders of the deep. 

" The roaring of the tempest, and the hollow sounds that mur- 
mured on the ear as the heavy billows rolled in foam or broke in 
contact with opposing billows, seemed as if deep called unto deep, 
and the noise of water-spouts might almost be heard, while we were 
momentarily expecting that the mighty waves would sweep over 
us. Our prayers were offered to Him who is a very present help 
in every time of danger, for ourselves and those who sailed with 
us; and under these or similar exercises several hours passed away. 
The storm continued during the day. At intervals we beheld, 
through the clouds and rain, one or other of the water-spouts, the 
whole of which appeared almost stationary, until at length we lost 
sight of them altogether, when the spirits of our native voyagers 
evidently revived/' 

The natives of the South Sea Islands, although scarcely alarmed 
at thunder and lightning, are at sea greatly terrified by the appear- 
ance of water-spouts. They occur more frequently in the South 



222 TORNADOES, TYPHOONS, AND TRADE-WINDS. 

than in the North Pacific, and although often seen among the 
Society Islands, are more rarely met with in the Sandwich group. 
But throughout the Pacific, water-spouts of varied form and size 
are among the most frequent of the splended phenomena and 
mighty works of the Lord which those behold who go down to 
the sea in ships and do business upon the great waters. They are 
sublime objects of unusual interest when viewed from the shore; 
but when beheld at sea, especially if near, and from a small and 
fragile bark, it is almost impossible so to divest the mind of a sense 
of personal danger as to contemplate with composure their stately 
movement, or the rapid internal circular eddy of the waters. 

The Tornado — which, however, is a general term employed to 
designate what is called a hurricane or whirlwind — is a sudden 
and violent storm of wind, accompanied by lightning and heavy 
torrents of rain, occurring frequently in the Indian Ocean, on the 
coasts of Africa, and other places in the tropics. While the tor- 
nado is passing over a ship, a loud creaking noise, occasioned by 
the electric fluid descending along the masts, is distinctly heard 
amongst the rigging. After the squall has passed beyond the 
ship, the lightning again appears to descend in sheets, as they did 
on its approach. Typhoons have their origin in the ocean to the 
east of China, immediately about Formosa, Luzon, and the islands 
immediately to the south, and their course is generally along the 
coast of China. The body of the storm advances at the rate of 
twelve miles an hour. It is very probable that typhoons arise 
from opposing aerial currents, each highly charged with moisture 
which they have taken up from the oceans they have traversed j 
and their intensity is aggravated by the large quantity of heat 
disengaged in the condensation of the vapour of the atmosphere 
into the deluges of rain which fall during the storm. 

The Trade- Winds, which are classed under the designation of 
" constant " winds, probably owe the origin of their name to the 
facilities afforded to trade and commerce by their constant pre- 
valence and uniform course. They are perpetual in the torrid 
zone, blowing from the eastward with little variation. They were 
not known to the ancients, and seem to have been unknown even 



Monsoons. 22% 

to modern seamen up to the time of Columbus, who had passed 
some time at the Canaries, to which the trade-winds extend in 
summer, and who seems to have conceived a just idea of their ex- 
tent. On his first voyage, after leaving the Canaries his crew were 
greatly alarmed at finding that the wind always blew from the 
north-east and east, and feared they would be prevented by it 
from returning to their native country. Columbus, however, knew 
otherwise, and on his return from the newly-discovered islands his 
tack was north of the trade-winds, in the region of the changeable 
winds. After the time of Columbus, European navigation extended 
rapidly in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the trade-winds 
became gradually known. 

Sqamen dwell with delight in the region of the trade-winds, not 
only on account of the favouring gale, but its genial influence, the 
transparent atmosphere, the splendid sunsets, and the brilliancy of 
the unclouded heavens day and night. The origin of the trade- 
winds is ascribed by Halley to the rarefaction produced in our 
atmosphere by the apparent diurnal progress of the sun. It ap- 
pears that the heat caused by the sun in the air is strong enough 
to produce this rarefaction to an extent of about sixty degrees of 
latitude, as the trade-winds, including what is termed the "region of 
calms," extend over such a portion of the globe. In this immense 
space the rarefied air is replaced by the colder and denser air 
which rests over the region contiguous to that of the trade-winds, 
and this transportation of air is the trade- wind. 

The Monsoon (from the Arabic word mausim, " a set time " or 
"season of the year") is a term applied to periodical winds which 
prevail almost entirely in the northern part of the Indian Ocean. 
The force with which these winds blow is much greater than that 
of the trade-winds. It is frequently impossible to stem their 
violence in any way. Many vessels which have endeavoured to 
force their way against them have been compelled to give in and 
to enter the nearest harbour. Other vessels are obliged to change 
their course, and to reach their destination by following a different 
track, wide of the straight route, and thus avoiding the monsoon. 
But although these winds, to vessels which miss the right season, 



224 BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF MONSOONS. 

render their voyages long and laborious, yet they greatly favour 
those of ships that arrive at the right period. It is chiefly by the 
assistance of the north-east and north-west monsoons that the 
voyages of merchant vessels bound from Canton to England are 
accomplished in short periods. 

Monsoons, when compared with the trade-winds, exercise a most 
beneficial and important office in nature, especially in their relation 
to rain-fall, the fertility of the greater part of Southern Asia being 
entirely due to them. The shiftings of the moonsoons is not all at 
once, and in some places the time of the changes is attended with 
calms, in others with variable winds; and particularly those of 
China, at ceasing to be westerly, are frequently very tempestuous, 
and such is their violence that they seem to be of the nature of the 
West India hurricanes. Forbes, in his " Oriental Memoirs," thus 
describes a scene of this character at sea : 

" At Aujengo the monsoon commences with great severity and 
presents an awful spectacle \ the inclement weather continues, with 
more or less violence, from May to October. During that period 
the tempestuous ocean rolls from a black horizon, literally of " dark- 
ness visible," a series of floating mountains, heaving under heavy 
summits, until they approach the shore, when their stupendous 
accumulations flow in successive surges, and break upon the beach. 
Eveiy ninth wave is observed to be generally more tremendous 
than the rest, and threatens to overwhelm the settlement. The 
noise of these billows equals that of the loudest cannon, and, with 
the thunder and lightning so frequent in the rainy season, is truly 
awful." 

It is not easy to explain the origin of the monsoons : they appear 
to be only a modification of the trade-winds, produced by the pe- 
culiar form of the countries lying within and around the Indian 
Ocean. 

The lightning attending these phenomena is described as fear« 
fully vivid, realizing the description of a storm by Shakespere: 

"I have seen 
The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam, 
To bo exalted with the threat'ning clouds; 



HURRICANES AND CYCLONES. 2^ 

But never till to-night, never till now, 
Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. 
Either there is a civil strife in heaven, 
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods, 
Incenses them to send destruction." 

" Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, 
Such groans of roaring wind and rain. " 

Other appalling phenomena that I may mention are Hurricanes ■ 
or Cyclones; revolving winds, which appear to originate not far from 
the west coast of Africa, where they move in a more or less north- 
westerly course, until they reach the coast of North America, where 
they begin to turn, and continue to the north-east, the vortex gra- 
dually widening, until they are lost in the ocean between Iceland 
and the British isles. These do not follow a straight line, but adopt 
a whirling course. The cyclones vary in breadth from fifty to five 
hundred miles, sometimes contracting, and in that case increasing 
fearfully in violence. 

The direct causes of these terrible atmospheric disturbances are 
not precisely determined: they may arise from an electric condition 
of a portion of the atmosphere (indeed, atmospheric changes of 
every kind seem to be connected with electricity), or the sudden 
heating of the air over some insulated portion of the African main- 
land, although there is ground for believing that they are not occa- 
sioned by heat alone. 

Hurricanes have been more terribly destructive than even earth- 
quakes. The " Great " hurricane which commenced at Barbadoes 
in 1780, was so termed from its terrible results. The very bottom 
and depths of the sea seemed to be uprooted, and the waves rose 
to such a height that forts were washed away, and their great guns 
carried about in the air like chaff; houses were razed and ships 
were wrecked, bodies of men and beasts were lifted up in the air 
and dashed to pieces. At the different islands not less than twenty 
thousand persons lost their lives on shore; while, farther to the 
north, the "Stirling Castle" and the "Dover Castle," men-of-war, 
went down at sea, and fifty vessels were driven on shore at the 
Bermudas. During a hurricane at Guadaloupe, in January, 1825, 

15 



226 THE BORE. 



a brig was whirled out of the water, and actually blown to pieces 
in the air. At St. Vincent's, in 1831, the water of the sea was 
raised to such a height as to flood the streets. The waves broke 
over cliffs seventy feet high. A very remarkable cyclone, or spiral 
hurricane, passed over a portion of England and the British and 
St. George's Channels during the autumn of 1859, destroying an 
enormous amount of shipping. The cyclone in Calcutta, in 1864, 
Avas one of the most awful events on record, of which there is no 
parallel except that in 1832 ; but even the latter was not so disas- 
trous in its effects. Upwards of three hundred ships were wrecked 
or irreparably damaged, and the results on shore were appalling. 

"The mountain waves, passing their 'customed bounds, 
Make direful, loud incursions on the land, 
All overwhelming ; sudden they retreat, 
With their whole troubled waters ; but, anon, 
Sudden return with louder, mightier force. " 

The noise of the wind in hurricanes is described by a seaman 
"as the most tremendous unearthly screech he had ever heard." 
The electric phenomena that sometimes attend hurricanes are very 
curious. One captain of a vessel states : " For nearly an hour we 
could not observe each other, but merely the lightning ; and, most 
astonishing, every one of our finger-nails turned quite black, and 
remained so nearly five weeks afterwards." 

The Bore, a sudden and impetuous flow of the tide, is one of the 
most astonishing sights that can be witnessed on the sea-coast. 

"Mysterious impulse ! — from the distant main 
A mighty wave majestic rolls along: 
First like a breezy murmur from afar 
'T is heard — then dies away ; but, as it gains 
"With louder swell upon the listening ear, 
A hoarser murmur agitates the calm ; 
Till bursting into view, the thund'ring tide, 
Fierce as a mountain cataract, descends 
In a steep torrent." 

At stated periods this tremendous tidal-wave comes rolling from 
the sea, threatening to overwhelm everything that moves on the 



SUBMARINE EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 227 

beach. In certain parts of the Bay of Fundy the bore is more im- 
petuous and higher — sometimes exceeding eighteen feet — than, 
perhaps, in any other part of the world. It comes in with such 
force and rapidity, with a noise resembling distant thunder, as 
sometimes to dash vessels on the shore. It is said also to over- 
take deer, swine, and other beasts that feed on the beach, and 
swallow them up before the swiftest feet among them have time to 
escape. The swine, as they feed on mussels at low water, are said 
to sniff the bore, either by sound or smell, and generally dash up 
the cliffs before it rolls in. The bore is caused by the compression 
of the mass of advancing waters into a gradually narrowing channel. 

Among the most extraordinary phenomena in the universe is the 
volcanic action at the bottom of seas, by the upheaval of which 
islands are produced, the form, magnitude, and character of which 
depend on that of the upheaved mass. In general these islands 
rise suddenly, and their appearance is attended with all the phe- 
nomena that accompany eruptions : they are seen for some time, 
and then gradually disappear. When the dome, upheaved from the 
bottom of the sea, breaks at the summit so as to form a crater, a 
part of the circular rampart is sometimes destroyed, so that the 
sea enters, and an enclosed bay is formed, where innumerable 
tribes of coral animals build their cells, as I have explained in the 
chapter on the " Rock-Builders of the Ocean.' ; 

Within the Atlantic Ocean no less than five great, and probably 
connected, centres of volcanic action exist. Iceland, the Azores, 
the Canaries, the Cape de Verd, and the West Indian Islands, 
besides many other points (Ascension, St. Helena, St. Paul's, &c.) 
at which extinct volcanic phenomena are visible. A remarkable 
submarine volcanic tract has been recently added to them by 
M. Daussy, forming a belt about seventy miles from the equator 
on the south side. In the middle of the seventeenth century there 
were great and disastrous shocks in the Mediterranean basin. 

A series of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, apparently con- 
nected with each other, occurred in 181 1 and 1812 in the countries 
surrounding the Columbian Sea. The subterranean force first tried 
to open a vent by means of a submarine eruption in the Atlantic, 

Yo—l 



228 ISLANDS RISING FROM THE SEA. 

Shocks of earthquake were for several days felt in the island of 
St. Miguel, one of the Azores, and on the 30th of January, 181 1, 
large volumes of smoke, with which flames were observed to mingle, 
were seen issuing from the surface of the sea, at a distance of a 
few miles from the western coast of the island. They threw up 
mud, stones, and other matter, which in a short time accumulated, 
so as to form a small island, which was called Sabrina : this dis- 
appeared after a few months in the sea. In 1831 an island rose 
out of the sea between the town of Sciacca, in Sicily, and the 
volcanic island of Pantellaria. Before any appearance of a change 
was observed in the sea, the inhabitants of Sciacca were alarmed 
by a number of very smart shocks of earthquake, of which two 
might be called severe. An Italian vessel passing near the place 
where, afterwards, the island rose out of the sea, observed a great 
disturbance of the waters at that spot According to his state- 
ment, a considerable space of the surface of the sea was seen 
rising to an elevation of from eighty to ninety feet above its level ; 
the water appeared to bubble as if boiling, and the phenomenon 
was attended by a noise like thunder. After this agitation had 
lasted about ten minutes, the watery mass sank to the sea level, 
but after some time rose again. These risings of the water were 
repeated at irregular intervals of ten, fifteen, and twenty minutes. 
A thick cloud of smoke, which enveloped the whole horizon, issued 
from the raised mass of water.. The surface of the sea surrounding 
the raised mass was also considerably agitated, and a number of 
dead fish were floating about. For several days the atmosphere 
surrounding the town of Sciacca was dim and foggy, so that it was 
impossible to see what was going on at sea. On the 12th of July, 
in the morning, people were surprised at finding on the surface of 
the sea, in front of the town, a quantity of small porous ashes, 
which had been carried there by a fresh breeze from the south- 
west. At the same time a very unpleasant smell of sulphuric 
hydrogen gas incommoded the inhabitants of the town and the 
country near. Dead fish, recently killed, were floating in all 
directions. 

Captain Scnhouse effected a landing on the island thus formed^ 



RED FOG OR SHOWER-DUST. 229 

took possession of it, and called it Graham Island. He found the 
form of the crater to approach that of a perfect circle, and to be 
complete along its whole circumference, excepting for about two 
hundred and fifty yards on the south-east side, which was broken 
and low, apparently not above three feet high. The whole circuit 
of the island he conceived to be from a mile and a quarter to a 
mile and one-third. In the month of December following the 
whole island had disappeared. 

The island of Santorin, one of the Greek islands called the 
Cyclades, is one of the most extraordinary instances of submarine 
volcanic action. During the last two thousand years several new 
islands have been formed in this locality, and singular phenomena 
have been exhibited even of late years. 

Earthquakes are very closely related to volcanoes, although by 
no means confined to volcanic districts. Instances of this phe- 
nomenon at sea are frequently recorded by navigators. In most 
cases the motion felt on board is compared with that experienced 
when a ship strikes on a rock under water. During the earthquake 
at Lisbon, an English vessel, sailing at a distance of about fifty 
miles from the coast of Portugul, experienced a shock of such 
violence that a part of the deck was damaged. The captain, 
much surprised, thought that a great mistake must have crept into 
his reckoning, and that his vessel had got on a rock. He gave 
orders to put out the long boat, to save the crew, but he was soon 
convinced there was no danger. The source whence earthquakes 
originate, the power by which the ground is convulsed, is with- 
drawn from our investigation. The eye of the most inquisitive 
naturalist cannot reach it. The substances which are brought up 
by earthquakes bear evident signs of having endured the action ot 
fire. It is supposed that these phenomena are produced by the 
efforts of accumulated elastic vapours to escape from the bowels 
of the earth. 

Another phenomenon T may allude to is the Red-Fog or Shower- 
Dust, encountered by vessels at sea occasionally, and especially in 
the vicinity of the Cape de Verd Islands. What these showers 
precipitate in the Mediterranean is called "sirocco-dust," and in 



2$o SUPPOSED TO COME FROM AFRICA. 

other parts " African dust," because the winds which accompany 
them are supposed to come from the Sirocco desert, or some other 
parched land of the continent of Africa. The dust is of a brick- 
red or cinnamon colour, and it sometimes comes down in such 
quantities as to cover the sails and rigging, though the vessel may 
be hundreds of miles from the land. This dust, when subjected 
to the microscope, is found to consist for the most part of exceed- 
ingly minute animal and vegetable organisms, probably derived 
from some of the great river valleys of South America, being lifted 
up in vast clouds of impalpable sands by the fierce gales of the 
equinox. 






CHAPTER XXL 

SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH THE OCEAN. 

" I saw the new moon late yestreen 
With the old moon in her arm ; 
And if we go to sea, master, 
I fear we '11 come to harm." 

Old Ballad, 

T is not surprising that men accustomed to the monotony 
of a seafaring life, remote from the educational influences 
afforded to those on land, with the many wonders of the 
vast ocean around them, full of strange mystery, which science only 
can partially unveil; with minds thus generally untutored, and 
consequently more susceptible to superstitious fancies, it is not 
astonishing that such persons should be among the most credulous 
of mankind. It is true that the spread of knowledge in modern 
times has removed many of the absurd notions peculiar to seamen ; 
but, as a class, they may still be considered among the foremost 
believers in the supernatural. 

From the earliest times the sea has been regarded as the region 
of fabulous marvels. The ancient mariners performed their voyages 
in a vague mist of capricious doubts and fancies, omens and prog- 
nostics, which excited terror or inspired confidence. Every object 
that met their gaze was endowed by them with some miraculous 
agency for good or for evil. Their course over unknown waters, 
peopled by their mythology with imaginary creatures, would natu- 
rally create awe and suspicion. 



232 PRODIGIES AT SEA IN ANCIENT TIMES. 

Horace, lamenting at Virgil's departure for Athens, rebukes the 
impiety of the first mariner, who ventured, in the audacity of his 
heart, to go afloat, and cross the briny barrier interposed between 
nations. He esteems a merchant favoured specially by the gods 
should he twice or thrice return in safety from a distant cruise. 
He tells us he himself had known the terrors of the dark gulf of 
the Adriatic, and had experienced the treachery of the western 
gale. 

Ancient writers are diffuse in the description of prodigies wit- 
nessed by mariners at sea, many of which, doubtless originating 
from simple causes, received the addition of a divine interposition. 
The sudden breaking up of a dense fog, and the sun shining in 
imdimmed splendour, was attributed to the appearance of Apollo 
himself, as the saints in later ages were supposed to miraculously 
intervene for the protection of seamen. Apollonius of Rhodes, 
the Greek poet, describes the Argonauts (Greek heroes who, under 
the command of Jason, went in search of the Golden Fleece) as 
suddenly benighted at sea in broad daylight by a dense black fog. 
They pray to Apollo, and he descends from heaven, and alighting 
on a rock, holds up his illustrious bow, which shoots a guiding light 
farther to an island. The delusions of these pagan times continued 
through succeeding ages, modified only by the change of religion 
and a better knowledge of navigation. The direct influence of the 
heathen deities was transferred in Catholic times to the Virgin and 
the saints, and this belief under various forms still prevails in some 
foreign countries, where the divine light of evangelical truth has 
not pierced, while other phases of superstition still linger among 
our own sailors as regards omens, good luck, and a number of 
other senseless notions. 

The monks in the middle ages were zealous chroniclers of saintly 
interpositions at sea. In 1226, we are told, the Earl of Salisbury, 
while returning to England, was so nearly shipwrecked on his 
voyage, that everything, including articles of great value, was 
thrown into the sea to lighten the ship. In the moment of greatest 
danger, a brilliant taper was seen on the top of the mast, and near 
to it a damsel of surpassing beauty, who protected the light from 



SUPERSTITIONS OF SARDINIAN FISHERMEN 233 

the wind and rain. This sight inspired the Earl and the sailors 
with fresh courage, and the presence was assumed to be that of 
the Virgin, to whom the Earl, from the day of his knighthood, had 
ordered a taper to be burnt at her shrine. It is probable, also, 
that the Earl had bestowed other and more substantial gifts on the 
Church ; and this legend would, probably, excite others to similar 
benefactions. 

Edward III., after the surrender of Calais, on his return to 
England encountered a violent storm. " Oh, Blessed Virgin ! " he 
exclaimed, " Holy Lady ! why is it, and what does it portend, that 
in going to France I enjoyed a favourable wind, a calm sea, and all 
things prospered with me ; but on returning to England all kinds 
of misfortunes befall me?" Of course the monkish historians 
relate that this expostulation had the desired effect, and the storm 
suddenly subsided. 

The fishermen of Sardinia appear to indulge in a plurality of 
saints to favour their vocation. Tyndale, in his account of that 
island, gives an interesting description of the superstitious obser- 
vances of the sailors. 

"Amidst the cheers/' he says, "of the men at having made a 
good capture of fish, a general silence prevailed ; the leader, in his 
little boat, having checked the hilarity, and assumed a priestly as 
well as a piscatorial character, taking off his cap — an example 
followed by all his company — commenced a species of chant or 
litany, an invocation of the saints, to which an ora pro nobis (" pray 
for us ") chorus was made by the sailors. After the Virgin Mary 
had been appealed to, and her protection against accidents par- 
ticularly requested, as the ancients did to Neptune, a series of saints 
were called over, half of whose names I knew not, but who were 
evidently influential persons in the fishing department. St. George 
was supplicated to drive away all enemies of the tunny from the 
imaginary e latntniaj or sorceress, to the real shark or sword-fish. 
St. Peter was reminded of the holy miracle performed for him by 
an application to confer a similar miraculous draught on the pre- 
sent occasion, and (perhaps to counterbalance the difficulty in case 
of his refusal) a petition was offered up to St. Anthony of Padua, 



534 MIRACULOUS INTERVENTIONS OF SAINTS, 

imploring him to perform some more of his fishing wonders. St. 
Michael was complimented on his heavenly influence in these 
matters, and humbly requested to continue his favours. Not know- 
ing why the latter was mixed up in the affair, I asked one of the 
men for an explanation. ' St. Michael,' he said, ' was with St. Peter 
when the latter asked Jesus Christ to go fishing, and that, there- 
fore, he was one of the crew of that boat.' Besides the saints of 
such undoubted authority and interest in tunny-fishing, the shrines 
of general saints, as well as local ones, were called over, and a 
blessing requested for the principal towns and places in the Medi- 
terranean which purchased the fish. 

" During these pious appeals, so strange to the ears of a Pro- 
testant stranger, the preparations for killing the fish were not 
forgotten, the men having changed their clothes for the occasion ; 
for by the time the carnage was over, the men were covered with 
blood, the stain of which it is almost impossible to remove. The 
change of every jacket, waistcoat, and trousers seemed to produce 
a corresponding one in the litany ; and one might have imagined 
that the saints presided no less over the old clothes than over the 
tunnies. The next day, the weather being unpropitious, a fresh 
invocation of the saints was made in church at vespers, and fisher- 
men and others were assembled to implore a change of wind and 
a successful fish on the morrow." 

The saints in turbulent times took good care of their own 
honour by miraculous interventions ; so we read that during the 
strife between the Scots and the English in 1335, the fleet of the 
latter entered the Forth, and committed great ravages on the 
sea-coast. One of these piratical vessels landed on the island 
of Auronia, and despoiling a church, carried off a splendid image 
of St. Columba. While on their return, however (according to a 
Scotch historian), it took vengeance upon them, for a furious storm 
arose, and one of the largest ships nearly foundered.. Having 
reached Inchkeith in great distress, and implored the saint's for- 
giveness, they suddenly found themselves in safety, but not until 
a vow had been made that the image should be replaced in its 
shrine. 



SEA-SAINTS. 23s 



Among the most conspicuous sea-saints were St. Nicholas, St. 
Peter, St. Christopher, St. Hermus, St. Barbara, St. Andrew, St. 
Clement, and St. Anthony of Padua. Of these, St. Nicholas is 
the present patron of those who lead a seafaring life in Roman 
Catholic countries (as Neptune was of old), and his churches 
generally stand within sight of the sea, and are plentifully stocked 
with votive offerings by seamen. Lambarde, in his " Perambula- 
tions of Kent," speaking of St. Nicholas's Chapel, near Hythe, says : 

"This is one of the places 
Where such as had escapt the sea 
Were wont to leave their guifts." 

The miraculous powers of this saint seem to have been confined 
to no particular countries or occasions. A church dedicated to 
this holy man at Arboja, in Sweden, had, before the Reformation, 
a richly-carved altar-piece, concerning which a tradition is related 
that during some foreign war, the inhabitants of a besieged town 
sewed this splendid work of art in a cow-hide, and sank it in the 
sea to prevent their enemies from obtaining possession of it. The 
Danes, however, discovered the spot, but in trying to hoist the 
weighty load into a ship, they found that it would not move. A 
wise man suggested that they should call over the names of the 
great churches in Sweden ; " For if," he observed, " you stumble 
on the name of the patron saint of the altar-piece, it will surely 
raise itself." 

This bright idea was acted upon, and St. Lawrence was invoked, 
but without effect, the altar-piece sticking as tight as ever. St. 
Bridget proved as obstinate, likewise half the saints in the calendar, 
when some one suggested St. Nicholas, and up came the altar- 
piece like a cork, and was sent to the church of which he was the 
patron. 

Innumerable are the instances of saints who are said to have 
interposed on behalf of seamen in peril. A comical story is related 
of a Mahommedan saint. A vessel sprang a leak at sea and was 
nearly sinking, when the captain vowed with a sincere heart that, 
should a famous saint and prophet vouchsafe to stop the leak, he 
would offer up the profits of his cargo, and give a couple of silver 



236 THE "PHANTOM SHIP? 

and gold models of ships, to his shrine. It is related that at this 
perilous moment the saint (who was still upon earth) was engaged 
with his barber, under the operation of shaving, and instantly, in 
his prophetic character, became acquainted with the condition in 
which the vessel was placed. Out of kindness he threw away the 
looking-glass he held in his hand, which flew off to the ship, and 
sticking to the hole, stopped the leak. On the vessel reaching its 
destination in safety, the captain brought his offerings to the saint, 
who told him to restore the looking-glass to the barber. The 
captain, astonished, and knowing nothing of the miracle, was told 
to examine his vessel, and found the looking-glass firmly attached 
to the hole in the ship. 

Legends of this ridiculous character are numerous in old writings, 
and I will now pass on to later superstitions. You have no doubt 
heard of the " Phantom Ship," which was supposed, when seen by 
sailors — or rather present in their imaginations only — to foretell 
disaster. This story originated with the Dutch, and found believers 
among seamen of all countries. Sir Walter Scott alludes to this 
spectral illusion as a harbinger of woe : 

"The phantom ship whose form 
Shoots like a meteor through the storm, 
When the dark scud comes driving hard, 
And lower'd is every topsail-yard, 
And canvas wove in earthly looms 
No more to brave the storm presumes I 
Then 'mid the roar of sea and sky, 
Top and top-gallant hoisted high, 
Full spread and crowded every sail, 
The demon frigate braves the gale, 
And well the doom'd spectators know 
The harbinger of wreck and woe." 

Water-spouts at sea were regarded in olden times with great 
terror. Sailors were accustomed to discharge artillery at these 
moving columns to accelerate their fall, from a fear lest the vessel 
should be sunk by them. The principal danger, however, arises 
from the wind blowing in sudden gusts in the vicinity of the spout 
from all points of the compass, sufficient to capsize small vessels 



ST. ELMO'S LIGHTS. 237 

carrying much sail. Another practice was to cut the air with a 
knife, while reciting some prayers, by which simple enchantment 
it was supposed the water-spouts would be reduced to submission. 
If it happened, however, to be in an obstinate mood, two sailors 
would draw their swords, and strike at each other, in true gladia- 
torial style, taking care between each blow to make the sign of 
the cross. 

The appearance of lightning playing amidst the masts, spars, 
and cordage of ships was ominous. A single flame was of evil 
import, whilst two flames signified a successful voyage, and were 
termed by the ancients " Castor and Pollux." By the superstition 
of modern times these electrical phenomena have been converted 
by the Roman Catholic sailors into indications of the guardian pre- 
sence of St. Elmo, a patron saint of seamen. During the second 
voyage of Columbus in the West Indies, a sudden gust of heavy 
wind came on in the night, and his crews considered themselves 
in great peril, until they beheld several of these lambent flames 
playing about the top of the masts and gliding along the rigging, 
which they held as the assurance that their supernatural protector 
was near. Fernando Columbus, the brother of the discoverer of 
the new world, records the circumstance in a manner characteristic 
of the age in which he lived : " On the same Saturday, in the night, 
was seen St. Elmo with seven lighted tapers at the topmast. There 
was much rain and great thunder. I mean to say that those lights 
were seen which mariners affirm to be the body of St. Elmo ; on 
beholding which they chanted many litanies and orisons, holding 
it for granted that in the tempest in which he appears no one is in 
danger." 

A similar mention is made of this nautical superstition in the 
voyage of the great navigator Magellan. During several great 
storms the presence of the saint was welcomed, appearing at the 
topmast with a lighted candle, and sometimes with two, upon which 
the people shed tears of joy, received great consolation, and sa- 
luted him according to the custom of the Catholic seamen ; but he 
ungraciously vanished, disappearing with a great flash of lightning 
which nearly blinded the crew. 



238 STORMS RAISED B Y WITCHES AND THE E VI L ONE. 

It is a cheering instance of human progress that, by the intro- 
duction of lightning-couductors into ships, the fearful electric 
currents which destroyed many noble vessels is now placed under 
control, and rendered powerless to injure, without the aid of St. 
Elmo or any other names in the Roman calendar. 

Among the ancients it was believed that certain persons had the 
power of raising tempests at sea. In the " Odyssey," ^Eolus is 
described as possessing these attributes, and Calypso, in the same 
work, is said to have been able to control the winds. 

The belief in human agency to influence the ocean was prevalent 
in the fifteenth century. A curious confession was made in Scot- 
land about the year 1469, by one Agnes Sampson, a reputed sor- 
ceress, who avowed that "at the time His Majesty (James VI.) 
was in Denmark, she took a cat and christened it, and afterwards 
bound to each part of that cat the chiefest parts of a dead man, 
and several joints of his body; and that in the night following, the 
said cat was conveyed into the midst of the sea, by herself and 
other witches, sailing in their baskets, and so left the said cat right 
before the town of Leith in Scotland. This done, there arose 
such a tempest in the sea as a greater hath not been seen, which 
tempest was the cause of the perishing of a boat or vessel wherein 
were sundry jewels and rich gifts, which should have been pre- 
sented to the new Queen of Scotland at Her Majesty's coming to 
Leith.' , 

Such was the language of a silly old woman, probably extorted 
by torture from a weak imagination. 

King James, in his " Demonology," states "that witches can 
raise stormes and tempestes in the aire, either on sea or land," which 
was in answer to Reginald Scot, who in his " Discoverie of Witch- 
craft" ridiculed the "black art" severely, and he had the advantage 
of his royal master, the " British Solomon," as he had been equi- 
vocally termed, in this and many other statements. 

The Evil One was supposed to have a direct influence on the 
winds and waves. 

"Our sailors," writes Dr. Pegge in 1763, "I am told, at this 
very day — I mean the vulgar sort of them — have a strange 



CUSTOMS ON SAINTS' DAYS BY FISHERMEN. 239 

opinion of satanic power and agency in stirring up winds, and 
that is the reason they so seldom whistle on shipboard, esteeming 
it to be a mockery, and consequently an enraging of the devil." 

We should scarcely expect that the mere turning of a stone was 
supposed to have had an effect in procuring favourable breezes, 
yet we read that the inhabitants of some parts of the Western 
Islands had implicit faith in this charm. In the chapel of Fladda 
Chuan there was a blue stone fixed in the altar, of a round form, 
which was always moist. It was the custom of any fishermen who 
were detained on the island by contrary winds to wash this blue 
stone with water, expecting by this to obtain a favourable wind. 
So great was the regard paid to this stone, that any oath sworn 
before it could never be broken. Another mode of these primitive 
islanders to secure auspicious winds was of a bucolic character, 
and consisted in hanging a he-goat to the mast-head, 

A similar feeling with regard to the efficacy of stones, though 
for another object, existed amongst the fishermen of Iona. This 
took the shape of a pillar, and the sailor who stretched his arm 
along it three times in the name of the Trinity could never err in 
steering the helm of a vessel. The Finlanders are said to have 
used a cord, tied with three knots, for raising the wind : when the 
first was loosed, they could expect a good wind ; if the second, a 
stronger; and if the third, such a storm would arise that the sailors 
would not be able to direct the ship, or avoid rocks, or stand upon 
the decks. The French seamen in former days had a comical 
notion that the spirit of the storm was propitiated by flogging un- 
fortunate midshipmen at the mainmast. 

Particular seasons of the year and saints' days were held in 
superstitious regard among mariners, and peculiar customs were 
attached to them. The old practice of setting the nets at Christ- 
mas Eve was general among the Swedish fishermen. The sailors 
at Folkestone, in Kent, chose eight of the largest and best whitings 
out of every boat, when they came home from the fishery. Out 
of the profit arising from these they made a feast every Christmas 
Eve. On AllhalloVs Even, or the vigil of All Saints' Day, the 
fishermen of Orkney sprinkled what was called fore-spoken water 



240 "BLESSING THE WATERS: 9 

over their boats when they had not been successful. They also 
made the sign of the cross on their boats with tar. The sailors in 
the Island of St. Lewis had an ancient custom of sacrificing to a 
sea-god called Shony, at Hallow-tide. They came to the church of 
St. Malvay, each seaman having his provisions with him. Every 
family furnished a peck of malt, and this was brewed into ale. A 
fisherman was selected to wade into the sea, carrying a cup of ale 
in his hand, and crying, " Shony, I give you this, hoping you will 
send us plenty through the year." 

The fishermen of Finland believed that any among them who 
created a disturbance on St. George's Day would provoke storms 
and tempests. At Dieppe, in Normandy, even to a late period, 
All Saints' Day was religiously observed by the sailors of that 
port. Those who ventured out to sea on that anniversary were 
supposed to have the " double sight;" that is, each one beheld a 
living likeness of himself seated in close contact, or when engaged 
in any work, doing the same. If the nets were cast out, they were 
found, on drawing them in, to contain nothing but bones. On 
the same day, towards midnight, a funeral car was heard driven 
slowly by a team of eight white horses, preceded by dogs of the 
same colour. Those who listened might hear the voices of those 
sailors who had died in the course of the year. Those persons 
who dared to look at this fearful scene were doomed to die shortly 
afterwards ; so, as the hour approached, every house was barred 
and windows closed. 

The Russian Twelfth Day (18th of January) is devoted to the 
singular custom of blessing the waters of the Neva, there being no 
parallel ceremony in any other country, except the practice once 
observed at Venice of the Doge espousing the sea. On the same 
day at Constantinople, the Greek Patriarch performs a similar 
custom by throwing a cross into the sea, and it is said that skilful 
divers generally succeed in obtaining it before reaching the bottom. 
The fishermen who dwell on the coasts of the Baltic never used 
their nets between All Saints' Day and St. Martin's Day, believing 
that any infraction of this rule would prevent them from getting fish 
through the whole year. A similar observance, for the same reason, 



APPARITIONS AT SEA. 241 

was held on St. Blaise's Day. They also considered sneezing on 
Christmas Day a favourable omen for the ensuing year. 

The fishermen of Hartlepool preserve many old customs, such 
as Carling and Palm Sundays, and Easter Day. At Christmas the 
children sing carols, and sword-dancers go about the streets ; and 
on the first Monday after the Epiphany, the stot or fool-plough (a 
small anchor) is dragged through the town, and donations re- 
quested. 

Sailors have always had their prejudices with regard to certain 
days of the week. That ominous day, Friday, so dark-lined to 
many weak-headed individuals — not only at sea, but on shore — 
was and is still considered by many mariners a blank day for sail- 
ing. A Cornish saying places Candlemas Day as ill omened for 
sailing. Bishop Hall, speaking of a superstitious man, observes, 
"he will never set to sea except on Sunday." At Preston-Pans, 
it seems, that holy day was usually selected for sailing to the fishing 
grounds : a clergyman of the town preached against this Sabbath- 
breaking, and the sailors, to prevent any ill befalling them in con- 
sequence, made a small image of rags, and burnt it on the top of 
their chimneys. 

Apparitions have always been a fruitful source of terror to seamen. 
A few years ago half a dozen sailors on board a man-of-war took it 
into their heads that there was a ghost in the ship, and declared they 
smelt him. The captain laughed at them, and called them a parcel of 
lubbers. A few nights afterwards they were in great terror, saying 
the ghost was behind the beer-barrels. The captain, annoyed at 
their folly, ordered a dozen lashes to each of them, which effectually 
stopped all talk about the spirit. When the barrels were removed 
some time afterwards, a dead rat was found, which had given rise 
to the story. Brand mentions that the cook of a vessel belonging 
to Newcastle died on a homeward passage. One of his legs was 
shorter than the other, which had given him an odd appearance 
when he walked. A few nights after the body had been committed 
to the deep, the captain was alarmed by his mate assuring him that 
the man was walking on the sea before the ship. The captain cer- 
tainly saw something that seemed to move as the cook had walked, 



$42 BELIEF IN THE VIRTUES OF A "CAUL* 

and ordered the ship to be moved towards the object. The seamen 
were greatly terrified; but it was soon found that the cause of all 
the commotion was part of a main-top, the remains of some wreck ; 
floating before them. In the campaigns of the French fleet at 
Mitylene, the crew of a brigantine are said to have seen the figure 
of a monstrous and hideous seaman, descend in the waters at Zante, 
with one of the crew who had defied the Virgin while playing at 
dice on board. 

Bells had a superstitious influence on the minds of seamen. It 
was commonly believed that when ships went down during a storm, 
the death-bell would be distinctly heard by the drowning crew. 
During tempests at Malta, it is usual to ring all the bells in the 
Roman Catholic churches for an hour, that the winds may cease 
and the sea be calmed. This custom also prevails in Sicily and 
Sardinia. There is a Cornish legend that the bells of Bottreaux 
Church were sent by ship, but that when the vessel was in sight of 
the tower, the blasphemy of the captain was punished by the loss 
of his ship. The bells were supposed to lie in the bay, and an- 
nounce by strange sounds the approach of a storm. 

A belief is still widely entertained in the virtues of a child's caul 
(a thin skin covering the head of some children when born) as a 
preservative against drowning and shipwrecks. In a Plymouth 
paper, the " Western Morning News," of the 9th of February, 1867, 
there was a notice to mariners : " For safeguard at sea : a child's 
caul for sale, price five guineas." The pretended virtues of this 
object reminds us of what is told of Augustus Caesar, that he 
carried a seal's skin about him as a preservative against lightning. 

Rats leaving a ship are considered indications of misfortune, pro- 
bably from the same idea that crows will not build their nests upon 
trees that are likely to fall. A droll story is told of a cunning Welsh 
captain, whose ship was infested by rats, which he was anxious to 
get rid of. The vessel was lying in the Mersey, at Liverpool, and 
hearing that there was another, laden with cheeses, in the basin, 
he got alongside of her about dusk, and soon saw all the rats 
attracted by the rich smell of the cheeses into his neighbour's 
ship, when he quietly had his own removed to a safe distance. 



OMENS DERIVED FROM SEA-BIRDS. *43 

***** r~ 

Omens for good or evil were derived from birds and marine 
animals. Shakespere alludes to the halcyon when he says : 

"Disown, affirm, and turn their halcyon beaks 
With every gale and vary of their masters. " 

The osprey is abundant during the summer along the coasts of 
North America, and its presence is hailed by the fisherman as the 
harbinger of summer, with the same feelings of satisfaction as the 
appearance of the gannet on our own shores. 

"The osprey sails above the sound, 

The geese are gone^ the gulls are flying, 
The herring -shoals swarm thick around, 

The nets are launch'd, the boats are plying ; 

4i ' Yo, yo, my hearts ! let's seek the deep, 
Raise high the song, and cheerly wish her, 
Still as the bending net we sweep, 

God bless the fish-hawk and the fisher ! [ " 

The tern is considered in the same favourable light as the osprey 
and the kingfisher; but the stormy petrels, the " Mother Carey's 
chickens " of early times, bring apprehensions of fearful dangers to 
the seaman, owing probably to the appearance of the birds when 
several hundred miles from land, apparently untired, and seldom 
seen resting or eating, together with its ominous colour. Pennant, 
however, says that the petrel does actually caution mariners of an 
impending tempest by collecting under the stern of the ship. 

44 Thus doth the prophet of good or ill 
Meet hate from the creatures he serveth still; 
Yet he ne'er falters ; so, petrel, spring 
Once more on the waves with thy stormy wing." 

It is curious to find crows employed in the early ages as guides 
to mariners. We are told that when Flok, a famous Norwegian 
navigator, was going to start from Shetland to Iceland, he took on 
board some crows, because the mariner's compass was not then in use. 
When he thought he had made a considerable part of his way, ha 
threw up one of his crows, who, seeing land astern, flew to it, thus 
indicating the route. Such was the simple mode of keeping a 

16—2 



Mi SEEING MAGPIES UNLUCKY. 

reckoning and steering their course pursued by the bold navigators 
of the stormy Northern Ocean. 

It is still believed that sea-gulls retiring to land foretell a storm; 
but the migration of sea-birds generally arises from their security 
in finding food, such as earth-worms and larvae, driven out of the 
ground by severe floods. The fish on which they prey in fine 
weather in the sea leave the surface and go deeper. 

Bourne says that, "seeing three magpies augurs a successful 
voyage;" but this will scarcely hold good with the superstitions 
respecting the same bird formerly held by seamen. Sir Walter 
Scott relates that a friend on a journey to London found himself 
in company with a seafaring man of middle age, in the same mail 
coach, who announced himself as master of a vessel in the Baltic 
trade. In the course of conversation the seaman observed, " I wish 
we may have good luck on our journey; but there is a magpie!" 
"And why should that be unlucky?" said my friend. "I cannot 
tell you," replied the sailor ; " but all the world agrees that one 
magpie bodes ill luck; two are not so bad; but three are the Evil 
One himself. I never saw three magpies but twice, and once I 
nearly lost my vessel, and afterwards, when I was on land, I fell 
from my horse and was much injured." 

The swan was an omen of fair weather to mariners. Coleridge 
has immortalized the albatross, as the harbinger, of good fortune, 
in the " Ancient Mariner : " 

" At length did cross an albatross, 
Through the fog it came ; 
As if it had been a Christian soul, 
We hail'd it in God's name. 

" It ate the food it ne'er did eat, 
And round and round it flew; 
The ice did split with a thunder- fit, 
The helmsman steer'd us through. 

il And a good south wind sprang up behind] 
The albatross did follow ; 
And every day, for food or play, 
Came to the mariners' halloa ! 



DOLPHINS FORETELLERS OF STORMS. 245 



" In mist or cloud, or mast or shroud, 
It perch'd for vespers nine, 
While all the night, through fog-smoke white, 
Glimmer'd the pale moonshine. 

" * God save thee, Ancient Manner, 

From the fiends that plague thee thus ; 
Why look'st thou so ? ' * With my crossbow 
I shot the albatross ! ' 
* * * * * 

" And all averr'd I had kill'd the bird 

That made the breeze to blow : 
' Ah, wretch ! ' said they, ' the bird to slay, 
That made the breeze to blow ! ' " 

The albatross is remarkable for the extent of its wanderings ; 
indeed, it may almost be said to pass from pole to pole, and is 
seen at a greater distance from land than any other bird. Hence 
sailors regarded this companion of their voyages with superstitious 
fondness. 

Dolphins, as well as porpoises, when they play about a ship, are 
supposed to foretell storms. The ancient navigators, however, 
regarded them in a different light, and believed that they con- 
veyed shipwrecked seamen to shore in times of peril. The story 
of Arion is well known ; and Spenser, in his " Marriage of the 
Thames and Medway," alludes to this romantic fiction, at the sight 

of which 

"All the raging seas for joy forgot to roar." 

Like many other old pagan fictions, this story was invested by 
the earlier Christian converts with a deeper, holier meaning \ and 
the dolphin, so constantly recognized in sculptures and frescoes, 
points, not to the deliverer of Arion, but to Him who, through 
the waters of baptism, opens to mankind the path of deliverance. 

We need scarcely be surprised at the superstitions of seamen in 
former days, when instances of such gross ignorance and credulity 
are found among the writers of those times. A belief long prevailed 
that the barnacle, a well-known kind of shell-fish found adhering 
to the bottom of ships, would, when broken off, become a species 
of goose. Several old writers assert this, and more than one from 



246 NELSON AND HIS COFFIN 

personal observation. The numerous tentacles or arms of the 
animal inhabiting the barnacle-shell, which are disposed in a semi- 
circular form and have a feathery appearance, seem to have been 
all that could reasonably be alleged in favour of this strange sup- 
position. 

Carrying dead bodies in ships has always been a sore point with 
sailors, and the sight of even an empty coffin works upon their pre- 
judices. Such Nelson found was the case, when one was sent to 
him by a brother officer made of the main-mast of the French ship 
" L' Orient," to remind the illustrious hero that amidst all the glory 
that surrounded him he was but mortal. Nelson received the pre- 
sent in a proper spirit, and had the coffin placed in his own cabin in 
the " Vanguard," but the crew could not bear to have the obnoxious 
memorial in sight, and it was accordingly ordered to be sent below. 

In the Orkneys, mariners on going to sea would consider them- 
selves in the greatest danger if by accident they turned their boat 
in opposition to the sun's course. In Sweden it is considered a bad 
omen to turn the prow of a vessel towards the shore, and for any 
one to say " Good luck " to the fishermen when starting; also, that 
pins found in a church, and made into hooks, get the best fish. 
Tackle, they affirm, stolen from a friend or a neighbour, secures better 
luck than when purchased for money — a species of larceny more 
profitable to the fisherman than comfortable to his friends. 

Sneezing — a potent omen in ancient times — had its portent for 
good or evil among seamen in former days : a sneeze on the left 
side, at the moment of embarking, foreboded evil, while a fortunate 
sneeze on the right side betokened a favourable voyage. 

" Good luck" is as much the creed of the fisherman as it is of 
many superstitious persons on land. Only a few years ago, in a 
number of the " Banff Journal," it was related that the herring 
fishery being very backward, some of the fishermen of Buckie 
dressed a cooper in a flannel shirt with burrs stuck all over it, and 
in this position he was carried in procession through the town in 
a hand-barrow. This ridiculous ceremony was done to procure 
"better luck." It happened, also, in a district where there were 
several churches, chapels> and schools. The fishermen of the Firth 



"GOOD LUCK" AND ''BAD LUCK? 247 

of Forth believe that if they chance to meet a woman bare-footed 
who has broad feet, when they are going to their vessels, they will 
have "bad luck," and the same fatality attends the sale offish for 
the first time in the day to a person having broad thumbs. It is 
considered " unlucky " to lose a water-bucket or a mop at sea. 
Children on board are regarded with favour by seamen as likely to 
bring good luck; not so a cat, which is sure to turn the scale of 
chance in the wrong direction. Whittington, however, the renowned 
" thrice Lord Mayor of London/' could not have shared in this 
superstition, if some old stories are true. To play at cards on 
board is considered unlucky; at some places boats' crews are 
changed from time to time for the same reason. 

I could multiply these instances by similar absurd delusions, 
many of which unhappily still prevail; but what I have mentioned 
will suffice to show you how superstition works upon its votaries, 
and especially on the sailor, 

"Whose eventful life, 
Whose generous spirit and contempt of danger, 
His firmness in the gale, the wreck, and strife," 

does not exempt him from the failings of credulity, and who ? as 

* ' Garrulous ignorance relates, 
Will learn it and believe." 





CHAPTER XXII. 
MONSTERS OF THE DEEP.— SEA-DRAGONS. 

' ' A world of wonders, where creation seems 
No more the works of Nature, but her dreams." 

Montgomery. 

HE subject I have chosen for the present chapter is one 
of the deepest interest, for it carries our thoughts to ages 
beyond the human mind to conceive, when the ocean, 
covering an immense expanse of our globe, swarmed with gigantic 
reptiles in the highest state of development, living in the open 
sea, and seeking the shore occasionally, crawling along the beach 
in search of prey. 

Those of my young readers who have been to the British 
Museum must have remarked with astonishment the collection 
to be seen there of huge fossil marine animals, which is probably 
the finest in the world, and to such, the observations I am about 
to make regarding them will have a deeper interest. 

The term " fossil " (from the Latin fossilis) signifies, in general, 
anything dug out of the earth, and is applied to the remains of 
animals and vegetables that have, during the lapse of many ages, 
become petrified, and preserved in such a state as to enable na- 
turalists to describe what they were originally. Some fossil remains 
are so small as to require the aid of a microscope to examine them, 
while others, such as I have alluded to, are of proportions so enor- 



HUGE SEA-LIZARDS. 249 

mous and of forms so strange as to fill us with awe at such wonder* 
ful works of the Almighty Creator. 

These reptiles were inhabitants of the ocean thousands of ages 
past, and from their strength and voracity must have been fearful 
scourges in that element. 

I will tell you how the remains of one of the most curious of 
these antediluvian monsters were found. Lyme Regis, a seaport 
in Dorsetshire, became remarkable at the commencement of the 
present century for the number of fossils embedded in the lime- 
stone cliffs, and a native of the place, Mary Anning, who had 
been engaged from her childhood in searching for what were then 
popularly called " curiosities/' saw in 181 1 an immense bone pro- 
jecting from the ledges of the rocks, and having traced the remains 
of what she considered an enormous crocodile, she employed some 
labourers to dig out the blocks of stone in which they were petrified. 
These remains, placed together, proved to be the skeleton of a 
marine monster about thirty feet in length, with jaws nearly six feet 
long. This was an Ichthyosaurus (from two Greek words signifying 
" fish-lizard ") of which seven or eight different species may be seen 
in the British Museum. 

You have, no doubt, often been amused and perhaps frightened 
in your childhood, by the descriptions of dragons and other fearful 
monsters, which found their way, I am sorry to say, much too fre- 
quently in story-books ; but you could not imagine a more dread- 
ful-looking creature than this huge sea-lizard, with a head like a 
crocodile, and the jaws provided with a great number of immense 
teeth (in some cases one hundred and eighty) ; the eyes in volume 
exceeding the size of your own head, and so constructed as to 
afford a wonderful magnifying power in tracing their prey through 
the darkness and depth of the ocean. 

The body was like that of a fish, with a broad and long tail, and 
four paddles (instead of feet, like those of the lizard or crocodile), 
similar to those of the whale tribe, enabling the animal to move, 
as they do, with rapidity through the water ; and with such a con- 
struction of the breast-arch as enabled it to descend to the bottom 
of the sea in search of food 2 which consisted of fishes and reptiles. 



250 HABITS OF THE PLESIOSAURUS. 

the remains of which have been discovered with the bones of the 
animal, thus shewing upon what it subsisted. " When we discover " 
(wrote the late Dean Buckland) "in the body of an Ichthyosaurus 
the food which it has engulfed a?t instant before its death — when 
the intervals between its sides present themselves still filled with 
the remains of fishes which it had swallowed some ten thousand 
years ago, or at a time even twice as great — all these immense 
intervals vanish, and we find ourselves, so to speak, thrown into 
immediate contact with events which took place in epochs im- 
measurably distant, as if we occupied ourselves with the affairs of 
the previous day." 

Another huge fossil marine animal, the Plesiosaurus (from Greek 
words signifying "near" and "lizard"), somewhat allied in its 
structure to the animal I have just mentioned, may also be seen 
in the British Museum, and the first discovery of the remains of 
this colossal reptile was also made at Lyme Regis, about the year 
1823. This was a most extraordinary creature, with the head of 
a lizard, the teeth of a crocodile, a neck of enormous length, re- 
sembling, on a very enlarged scale, that of a swan, the ribs of a 
chameleon, a body rounded like that of a great marine turtle, a 
tail shorter, in comparison with the length of the body, than the 
Ichthyosaurus, acting the part of a rudder in directing the course 
of the animal through the water. 

The Rev. W. D. Conybeare thus describes the habits of this 
huge reptile : " That it was aquatic is evident from the form of 
its paddles ; that it was marine is equally so from the remains with 
which it is universally associated; that it may have occasionally 
visited the shore, the resemblance of its extremities to those of 
the turtle may lead us to conjecture: its motion, however, must 
have been awkward on land, and its long neck may have impeded 
its progress through the water. May it not, therefore, be concluded 
that it swam upon or near the surface, arching back its long neck 
like the swan, and occasionally darting it down on the fish which 
happened to float within its reach ? It may perhaps have lurked 
in shoal water along the coast, concealed among the sea-weed, 
and raising its nostrils to a level with the surface from a con- 



OTHER MONSTERS OF THE PRIMITIVE SEAS. 251 

siderable depth, may have found a secure retreat from the assaults 
of dangerous enemies." 

The Plesiosaurus was scarcely as large as the Ichthyosaurus; 
some of the species, however, measure from eighteen to twenty 
feet. 

The two animals I have described do not seem to have had, as 
far as can be judged, a scaly covering; but another monstrous 
reptile of the primitive seas, the Teleosaurus — a kind of fossil cro- 
codile inhabiting the seas and rivers of the Old World, the great 
pirate of the ocean — was armed to the teeth, and clothed with an 
impenetrable coat of mail both on the back and stomach. This 
fearful animal was thirty feet in length, the head measuring from 
three to four feet, with enormous jaws, well defended beyond the 
ears, sometimes with an opening of six feet, through which they 
could swallow animals the size of an ox. 

The animals I have mentioned were, from their enormous size 
and voracity, the terror of the primitive seas. After them we have 
the Mbesasaurus, a creature whose remains were first discovered at 
Maestricht, on the banks of the Meuse, in 1780. This occurred 
when the knowledge of these ancient prodigies was still in its 
infancy. One saw in it the head of a crocodile, another that of a 
whale. A long discussion was terminated by the great Baron 
Cuvier, who, assisted by the genius of Camper, at length gave a 
true place in the animal kingdom to the Maestricht wonder. 
Among those interested in the discovery of these ancient vestiges 
of creation was an officer of the garrison at Maestricht, named 
Drouin. He purchased the bones of the animal as the workmen 
disengaged them from the rock, and formed a collection of fossil 
rarities at Maestricht, which excited great curiosity. The head, 
which exceeded six feet in length, was sent to France, and is now 
in the Museum of Natural History at Paris. 

To show you the wonderful anatomical knowledge of scientific 
men in modern times, I may mention that Cuvier was able to ascer- 
tain the character of the entire skeleton of this huge animal from 
the examination of the jaws and teeth alone, and even from a single 
tooth I This told a history in itself : being without a root, not hollow. 



252 



THE MCESASAURUS. 



as in the crocodile, but solid throughout, and joined to the sockets 
by a broad bony basis, it became an instrument of enormous 
strength, and proved how formidable the animal must have been. 
It had sufficient velocity to overtake and capture fishes of immense 
size, with which the ancient seas abounded. In length it was about 
twenty-five feet ; the tail was flattened on each side, but high and 
deep, forming a straight oar of great strength to propel the body. 








CHAPTER XXIII. 

MARINE PRODIGIES. 

*God quickened in the seas and in the rivers 
So many fishes of so many features, 
That in the waters we may all see creatures, 
Even all that on the earth are to be found, 
As if the world were in deep waters drown'd. 
For seas, as well as skies, have sun, moon, stars, 
As well as air, swallows, rooks, and stares, 
As well as earth, vines, roses, nettles, melons, 
Mushrooms, pinks, gillyflowers, and many millions 
Of other plants more rare, more strange than these, 
As very fishes living in the seas: 
As also rams, calves, horses, hares, and hogs, 
Wolves, urchins, lions, elephants, and dogs ; 
Yea, men and maids, and which I most admire, 
The mitred bishop and the cowled friar ; 
Of which examples, but a few years since, 
Were shown the Norway and Polanian prince." 

Du BARTA9. 




[HE regions of fable are unbounded; and probably no 
department of Nature is so prolific in supplying food 
for the wildest fancies of the imagination than the great 
unfathomed ocean depths, which conceal so many mysteries. 

The ancients had their sea-divinities and monsters in profusion. 
It is true that the powerful mind of Aristotle, the great father of early 
philosophy, rejected with disdain the credulous tales and fabulous 

263 



$$4 THE "KRAKEN" OF THE NORWEGIAN WATERS, 

stories of his age in regard to natural history ; but the writings of 
Pliny, the natural historian, abound in prodigies and absurdities, as 
also those of ./Elian, and other ancient authors. For many cen- 
turies a mist of doubt, error, and fanciful credulity prevailed with 
regard to the inhabitants of the ocean. Even in 1554 a work on 
fishes by Rondelet, a physician at Montpellier, although written 
with tolerable exactitude in some particulars, concludes with a 
chapter illustrated by grotesque figures of certain marine monsters; 
amongst others, a fish dressed as a monk, and a " bishop-fish " in 
full pontificals. Where the extraordinary originals, from which 
these cuts were taken, came from, is not known; but they were 
probably fabricated in the true Barnum style from the skins of some 
large species of sharks or rays, by the priests of that period, to 
excite the superstitious veneration of the people, and persuade 
them, as Du Bartas, in the quotation at the head of this chapter, 
wishes us to believe, that even the sea contains bishops and monks. 

Until the commencement of the seventeenth century, nothing 
like a dawn of true light with regard to natural history seemed to 
strike upon the popular mind. A laborious but very credulous 
professor at Bologna, Aldrovandus, wrote no less than fourteen 
folio volumes on the subject, published in 1640; but the true and 
the false, fable and nonsense, are strangely intermixed. Some of the 
engravings in these books are very curious, and give an idea of the 
exaggerative style of their contents. These we have, magnified in 
every extent, by succeeding writers. 

The Kraken, described by Pontoppidan in his " Natural History 
of Norway," is one of the most extraordinary of these wonderful 
sea-monsters, and claims the peculiar privilege of the wide domain 
of the Norwegian waters. 

" Our fishermen usually affirm," says this writer, " that, when they 
row out several miles to sea, particularly in hot summer days, they 
are informed by various circumstances that the kraken is at the 
bottom of the sea. Sometimes twenty boats get together over him, 
and when, from well-known indications, they perceive it is rising, 
they get away as fast as they can. When they find themselves out 
of danger, they lie upon their oars, and in a few minutes they see the 



ENORMOUS CUTTLE-FISHES. '2$$ 

monster come to the surface. He there shows himself sufficiently, 
though only a small part of his body appears. Its back, which appears 
to be a mile and a half in circumference, looks at first like a number 
of small islands, surrounded with something which floats like sea- 
weeds ; here and there a large rising is observed like sand-banks ; 
at last, several bright points or horns appear, which grow thicker 
the higher they rise, and sometimes they stand up as high and as 
large as the masts of middle-sized vessels. It seems these are the 
creature's arms, and it is said, if they were to lay hold of the largest 
man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom. After the 
monster has been a short time on the water, he begins slowly to 
sink again; and then the danger is as great as before, because the 
motion of the sinking causes such a swell and such an eddy or 
whirlpool that he carries everything before it." 

Such is the description of the fabulous kraken. Divested of its 
supernatural powers and dimensions, there may be some founda- 
tions for these exaggerations in the occasional appearances of huge 
cephalopods (molluscous animals having the head covered with 
tentacula or feelers, serving as feet), to the general characters of 
which the description given of its form and monstrous arms suffi- 
ciently agrees. Many such animals are known to exist in some seas, 
and there are reasons for believing that much larger creatures of 
the same species exist. 

It is a favourite notion of Pontoppidan that from the appearance 
of the kraken originate those dim traditions of floating islands 
being observed in the North seas. It has been sought to identify 
the cuttle-fish of enormous size with the kraken, and stories are 
told of men having been drawn over the sides of vessels by their 
enormous arms. In 1834, Captain Neill, of the ship " Robertson," 
of Greenock, saw the head and snout of a great sea-monster, of 
which a sketch was taken at the time. It appeared like a vessel 
lying on her beam-ends. The " Robertson " was hauled up so as to 
near it, and it was discovered to be the head and snout of a great 
fish swimming to windward : immediately above the water, its eye 
was seen like a large deep hole. The part of the head which 
was above the water measured about twelve feet, and its width 



Z$6 THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT. 



twenty-five feet. The snout was about fifty feet long, and the sea 
occasionally rippled over one part, leaving other parts dry and un- 
covered. Several records exist in Scotland of the appearance of 
similar animals to that which have been noticed, but the result ap- 
pears to infer the existence of some enormous cuttle-fish, possessed 
of characters which distinguish it essentially from every other crea- 
ture with which we are familiar. Pliny's vast animal, with prodigious 
arms, which impeded the navigation of the Straits of Gibraltar, 
would seem to have had a family likeness to the kraken. 

The great Sea-Serpent appears to have some analogy to the same 
monster as I have described, and here again the sapient Pontop- 
pidan raises our eyes in astonishment at his description of this 
marine prodigy, which he describes as six hundred feet in length, 
ying in the water in many folds, and appearing like many hogs- 
heads floating in a line at a considerable distance from each other. 
Such a creature is said to have been seen on the coast of Norway, 
in 1819, for a whole month, seeming to doze in the sunbeams. In 
1822 and 1837, it is said to have reappeared in the same waters. 
The Americans, not to be outdone by the Norwegians, relate several 
cases in which prodigious sea-serpents have been seen in the 
Atlantic, opinions varying as to the length of the animals, averaging 
from eighty feet to two hundred and fifty yards, making curves 
"perpendicular to the water, and with eyes brilliant and glistening.' , 

Our own sailors have also their account in the prodigy witnessed 
in 1848, in the South Atlantic Ocean, not far from the coast of 
Africa, by the officers and crew of H.M.S. "Daedalus." In the 
"'Illustrated London News" of 28th October, 1848, may be seen 
engravings of this strange monster, from sketches by Captain 
McQuhae, the commander of the vessel. According to the ac- 
count forwarded to the Admiralty, the animal was seen not in 
bright and fine weather, but with a murky atmosphere, and with a 
long ocean swell. It was swimming rapidly, and with its head 
and neck above water, and appeared an enormous serpent, with 
head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the sur- 
face of the sea. It passed so close under the lee-quarter of the 
vessel, that its features were easily recognized. The diameter of 



HUGE SEA ANIMAL SEEN NEAR ST. HELENA. 257 

the serpent was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, 
and the animal was never, during the twenty minutes that it con- 
tinued in sight, once below the surface of the water. The colour 
was a dark brown, with yellowish-white about the throat. It had 
no fins, but something like the mane of a horse, or rather a bunch 
of sea-weed, washed about its back. 

Our great anatomist, Dr. Owen, has expressed much doubt as to 
the existence of a great sea-serpent, on the ground that no bones 
or other remains of such recent animal have been found. Not- 
withstanding this high authority, it may be, however, that many 
animals in the ocean depths, of this character, are still unknown 
to us. As some proof of this, I may mention, that nine years after 
this occurrence, in 1857, a similar creature was seen by the officers 
and crew of the ship " Castilian," bound from Bombay to Liverpool. 
This event occurred at six in the evening, about ten miles distant 
from St. Helena. A monster - ddenly appeared in the water. 
The chief facts are in the captain's (Harrington) own words : 

" While myself and officers were standing on the lee-side of the 
poop, looking towards the island, we were startled by the sight of a 
huge marine animal, which reared its head out of the water within 
twenty yards of the ship, when it suddenly disappeared for about 
half a minute, and then made its appearance in the same manner 
again, showing us distinctly its neck and head, about ten or twelve 
feet out of the water. The diameter of the head was about seven 
or eight feet in the largest part, with a tuft of loose skin circling it 
about two feet from the top. The water was discoloured for several 
hundred feet from its head, so much so, that on its first appearance 
my impression was that the ship was in broken water, produced, 
as I supposed, by some volcanic agency since the last time I passed 
the island ; but the second appearance completely dispelled these 
fears, and assured us it was a monster of extraordinary length, which 
appeared to be moving slowly towards the land. The ship was 
going too fast to enable us to reach the mast-head in time to form 
a correct estimate of its extreme length ; but from what we saw from 
the deck, we conclude that it must have been over two hundred 
feet long. The boatswain and several of the crew who observed 

17 



258 THE DRAGON IN THE SEA. 

it from the top-gallant forecastle, state that it was more than double 
the length of the ship, in which case it must have been five hundred 
feet long. Be that as it may, I am convinced that it must have 
belonged to the serpent tribe : it was of a dark colour about the 
head, and was covered with several white spots." 

Captain Harrington, some time afterwards, strengthened his 
testimony by that of other persons. The conclusion, however, 
seems to be that the animal actually seen by the captains of the 
" Daedalus " and the " Castilian " was, most probably, a species of 
seal known to inhabit the South Seas. 

It has been supposed that large fishes of the Ribbon family may 
have given rise to some of the stories about the great sea-serpent. 
One was lately captured at the Bermudas, apparently an immature 
fish, but more than sixteen feet in length, and with a row of long 
flexible filaments, or slender threads, on the back of the head and 
anterior parts of the back, which might well represent the mane 
alluded to as an appendage of the serpent prodigy. The fishes of 
this kind are inhabitants of great depths in the ocean, and this may 
account for the rarity of their appearance. One species belongs to 
the Northern Seas, where the appearance of the sea-serpent has 
been particularly recorded ; others belong to the warmer regions. It 
may be that these fishes attain to a length that would corroborate 
the assertions of those who have seen the sea-serpent, making a 
due allowance for exaggeration under such novel circumstances. 

Mr. Adams, naturalist of H.M.S. " Samarang," writing of Sooloo 
and the Molucca Archipelagoes, remarks : " I have often witnessed 
the phenomenon which first gave origin to the marvellous stories of 
the great sea-serpent, namely, lines of rolling porpoises, resembling 
a long string of buoys often extending a hundred yards. These 
account for the so-named protuberances of the serpent's back. They 
keep in close single file, progressing rapidly along the surface of the 
water by a succession of leaps, part only of their uncouth forms 
appearing to the eye." 

The serpent in the sea was, at one time, a very general supersti- 
tion among the heathens, for we find in Isaiah xxvii. i : "In that 
day the Lord with His sore and great strong sword shall punish 



HOW THOR FISHED FOR THE MIDGARD SERPENT. 259 

leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; 
and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." 

In the prose " Edda," a collection of Scandinavian mythology 
dating from the thirteenth century, there is a story how Thor, the 
second in rank of the Northern deities, went to fish for the Mid- 
gard sea-serpent. It is curious as showing the origin of the popular 
delusions of the Northern people revived, as we have seen, by Pon- 
toppidan and others, with regard to the kraken and the monstrous 
serpent. Thor went out of Midgard under the disguise of a young 
man, and came at dusk to the dwelling of a giant called Hymir. 
Here he passed the night, but at break of day, when he perceived 
that the giant was preparing his boat for fishing, he arose and 
dressed himself, and begged Hymir to let him row out to sea with 
him. The giant answered that a puny stripling like he was could 
be of no use to him, and would not venture so far, or remain out 
so long at sea as he was accustomed to. Thor declared that he 
would, and felt so enraged at the surly manners of the giant, that 
he was inclined to let his mallet ring on the head of the savage, 
but he stifled his wrath, and asked Hymir what he meant to bait 
with. Hymir told him to manage that for himself, and Thor went 
up to a herd of oxen belonging to the giant, wrung off the head 
of one of them, and returning with it to the boat, put out to sea 
with Hymir. Thor rowed aft with two oars, and with such force 
that his companion, who rowed at the prow, saw with surprise how 
swiftly the vessel was driven forwards. He then said that they were 
come to the place where he usually angled for flat-fish, but Thor 
would not stop, but rowed on until Hymir cried out that there 
would be danger from the great Midgard serpent In spite of 
these remonstrances, however, it was some time before Thor would 
lay down his oars. He then took out a fishing-line, exceedingly 
strong, furnished with a powerful hook, on which he fixed the bull's 
head, and cast the line into the sea. The bait soon reached the 
bottom ; the huge serpent greedily caught at it, and the hook stuck 
fast in his palate. Stung with the pain, the monster tugged so vio- 
lently that Thor was obliged to hold fast with both hands by the 
oar-pegs ; but his wrath now waxed high, and assuming all his 

17—2 



26o MARVELLOUS STORIES OF OLA US MAGNUS. 

divine power and colossal dimensions, he pulled so hard at the 
line that his feet forced their way through the boat and went down 
to the bottom of the sea, whilst with his two hands he drew up the 
serpent. A dreadful scene now took place, Thor darting looks of 
fierce anger at the monster as it reared its head, spouting out floods 
of venom upon him. When Hymir saw the serpent he turned pale 
and trembled with affright, as we may reasonably suppose ; and 
finding himself sinking with the boat, drew out his knife and cut 
the line, on which the serpent sank again under water. Thor, how- 
ever, launched his mallet at the monster, and some say struck oft 
its head at the bottom of the sea, while others affirm that the 
monster still lives in the depths of the ocean. Thor then struck 
Hymir such a blow with his fist that the giant fell dead headlong 
into the water ; and the god, wading through the ocean with rapid 
strides, came to land again. 

The old Northern writers, like many others of a credulous cha- 
racter, were endowed with very elastic imaginations, and saw most 
matters through powerful magnifiers. One of this class was Olaus 
Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal, about the middle of the sixteenth 
century, who wrote an account of various sea-prodigies. One 
chapter in his book is " On many kinds of Whales." " Some," he 
says, " are hairy, and of four acres in bigness : the acre is two 
hundred and forty feet long and one hundred and twenty broad." 
Another kind " hath eyes so large that fifteen men may sit in the 
room of each of them, and sometimes twenty or more; his horns 
are six or seven feet long, and he hath two hundred and fifty on 
each eye, as hard as a horn, that he can stir stiff or gentle, either 
before or behind." The worthy prelate has another chapter, of 
" Anchors fastened on Whales' Backs," in which it is stated, " the 
whale hath upon his skin a superficies like the gravel that is by the 
sea-side, so that ofttimes, when he raiseth his back above the water, 
sailors take it to be nothing else than an island, and land upon it, 
and they strike piles into it, and fasten them to their ships ; they 
kindle fires upon it to boil their meat, until at length the whale, 
feeling the fire, dives down suddenly into the depth, and draws 
forth man and ship after him unless the anchor breaks." 



FISH OF HORRIBLE FORMS. 261 

Olaus tells of fish on the coast of Norway of most horrible form, 
having very black square heads of ten or twelve cubits, with huge 
eyes eight or ten cubits in circumference, the apple of the eye 
being red and fiery-coloured, which in the dark nights and the 
deep waters appears to fishermen like a burning lamp ; and on 
the head there being hair, like long goose-feathers, hanging down 
in manner of a beard. One of these sea-monsters will easily 
drown many great ships with their mariners. 

In another chapter of "The Whirlpool and his Cruelty against 
the Mariners/' Olaus treats it as a stupendous fish. " The whirl- 
pool or prister is of the kind of whales, two hundred cubits long, 
and very cruel. This beast hath a large and round mouth like a 
lamprey, whereby he sucks in his meat or water, and will cast such 
floods above his head that he will often sink the strongest ships, 
He will sometimes raise himself above the sail-yards, and cruelly 
overthrow the ship like any small vessel, striking it with his back 
or tail, which is forked, wherewith he forcibly binds any part of a 
ship when he twists it about." Olaus affirms that a war-trumpet 
is the fit remedy against him, by reason of the sharp noise, which 
he cannot endure, or the sound of cannon, with which he is more 
frightened than by a cannon-ball, "because this ball loseth its 
force by the water, or wounds but a little his vast body, being 
hindered by a mighty rampart of fat" 

The archbishop concludes his strange histories with an obser- 
vation that no one would be rash enough to controvert, that in the 
great deeps " there are many kinds of fishes that seldom or never 
are seen by man." 

The belief in Mermaids and Mermen, prevalent through the 
remotest ages, was also especially strong in the Scandinavian 
countries, and some traces of the delusions still linger on some of 
the out-of-way coasts of the Northern seas. A very high anti- 
quity is claimed for these mythic creatures. Ancient history 
abounds with notices of them. One was called by the Babylonians 
Odakon, and is regarded by Selden as identical with Dagon (from 
the Hebrew dag, '-'a fish"), the national god of the Philistines, so 
frequently mentioned in the Scriptures. It is always represented 



262 MERMAIDS AND MERMEN. 

on medals as half fish and half woman, but the Hebrew writers 
speak of it as a masculine being. In the excavations of Khorsabad, 
M. Botta found a figure of Odunes, a creature half man and half 
fish. At the excavations at Nimroud, Mr. Layard discovered a 
gigantic figure with a fish's head as a cap, and the body of the 
fish depending over the shoulders. On the coins of Ascalon is 
figured a goddess, above whose head is a half-moon, and at her 
feet a woman with her lower extremities like a fish. It is singular 
(observes Mr. Gould) how the prevalence of the tales of mermaids 
exists among Celtic nations, indicating these water-nymphs as 
having been originally deities of the people. The Peruvians had 
also their semi-fish gods. These form the types of those imaginary 
creatures, the subjects of ancient poetry, the Tritons, who were 
represented as half men and half fish, having power to calm tem- 
pests ; and probably, too, of the Syrens, whose songs were said to 
lure the unhappy seamen to destruction. 

Innumerable are the stories that are told of mermaids and mer- 
men : they have been made the subject of numberless songs by 
ancient and modern bards. Shakespere alludes to the vocal powers 
of these mythic creatures : 

" I heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back 
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath 
That the rude sea grew civil at her song." 

Our own Laureate inquires 

" Who would be 

A mermaid fair? 
Singing alone, 
Combing her hair 
Under the sea, 
In a golden curl, 
With a comb of pear! ? 
On a throne?" 

In the "Speculum Regale," an Icelandic work of the twelfth 
century, is the following description of a mermaid : " A monster 
is seen also near Greenland, like a woman as far down as the 
waist ; long hands and soft hair, the neck and head in all respects 



THE MERMAN OF LANDSCRONA. 263 

like that of a human being. The hands seem to people to be 
long, and the fingers not to be parted, but united by a web like 
that on the feet of water-birds. From the waist downwards this 
monster resembles a fish, with scales, tail, and fin. This prodigy 
is supposed to show itself more especially before heavy storms. 
The habit of this creature is to dive frequently, and rise again to 
the surface with fishes in its hands. When sailors see it playing 
with the fish, or throwing them towards the ship, they fear they 
are doomed to lose several of the crew; but when it casts the fish, 
or, turning from the vessel, flings them away from her, the sailors 
take it as a good omen that they will not suffer loss in an im- 
pending storm. The monster has a very horrible face, with broad 
brow and piercing eyes, a wide mouth, and double chin/' 

Pontoppidan, from whose " History of Norway " I have already 
largely quoted, records the appearance of a merman, which was 
deposed to on oath by several observers. "About a mile from 
the coast of Denmark, near Landscrona, three sailors, observing 
something like a dead body floating on the water, rowed towards 
it. When they came within seven or eight fathoms, it still appeared 
as at first, for it had not stirred ; but at that instant it sank, and 
arose almost immediately in the same place. Upon this, out of 
fear, they lay still and let the boat float, that they might the better 
examine the monster, which by the help of the current came nearer 
to them. He turned his face and stared at them, which gave them 
an opportunity of examining him narrowly. He stood in the same 
place seven or eight minutes, and was seen on the water above 
breast-high. At last they grew apprehensive of some danger, and 
began to retire, upon which the monster blew up his cheeks and 
made a kind of lowing noise, diving away from view. In regard 
to his form, they declare that he appeared like an old man, strong 
limbed, with broad shoulders, but his arms they could not see. 
His head was small in proportion to his body, and had short black 
curled hair, which did not reach below his ears. His eyes lay 
deep in his head, and he had a meagre face with a black beard. 
About the body downwards this merman was quite pointed like a 
fish." 



264 PROBABLE ORIGIN OF STORIES OF MERMAIDS. 

Many of the so-called mermaids exhibited in a stuffed condition 
from time to time have proved sometimes clever, but more fre- 
quently bungling " shams." Among the latter may be classed the 
exhibition of the famous American, Barnum, a few years since, 
which proved to be the combination of the head of a monkey with 
the tail of a fish ! The probability is that all the stories about these 
prodigies have originated in the appearance of seals, walruses, to 
which I have already alluded, and to what are called the herbivorous 
cetacea, from their living on sea-plants, and which consists amongst 
others of the manatee of the West Indies, the dugong of the Eastern 
seas, and the stellerus, an inhabitant of the Polar regions. 

I will briefly describe these animals. The best-known species 
of the Manatee, or Lamantin, or Sea-Cow, is found in the West 
Indies and on the western coasts of tropical America. These some- 
times attain a length of twenty feet, and a weight of three or four 
tons, and they live chiefly in shallow bays and creeks, and in the 
estuaries of rivers. The skin is very thick and strong, and is 
almost destitute of hair. The fingers can be readily felt in the 
swimming . paws, and, connected together as they are, possess con- 
siderable power of motion, whence the name manatee (from the 
Latin mantis, "a hand"). This animal is usually found in herds, 
which combine for mutual protection when attacked, placing the 
young in the centre. When one is struck with a harpoon, the 
others try to tear it out. The females show great affection for 
their young. 

The Dugong — numbers of which frequent the coasts of Ceylon, 
allured by the still waters and the abundance of sea-weeds — is, per- 
haps, one of the most likely representatives of what is considered 
a " mermaid " that could be found. There is a rude approach to 
the human outline in the shape and attitude of the mother dugong 
while suckling her young, holding it to her breast by one flipper 
while swimming with the other, the heads of both being above 
water; and when suddenly disturbed, diving and displaying her fish- 
like tail. These, together with her habitual demonstrations of strong 
natural affection, might readily give rise to the fable of the mer- 
maido 



PORTUGUESE BELIEF IN MERMAIDS. 265 

Megasthenes records the existence of a creature in the ocean near 
Taprobane (Ceylon), with the aspect of a woman; and y£lian, adopt- 
ing and enlarging on his information, peoples the seas of Ceylon with 
fishes having the heads of lions, panthers, and rams ; and, stranger 
still, in the form of satyrs ! Statements such as these must have 
had their origin in the hairs which are set round the mouth of the 
dugong, somewhat resembling a beard. The Portuguese cherished 
for a long time their belief in the mermaid ; and the historian of 
the proceedings of the Jesuits in India gravely records that seven 
of these monsters, male and female, were captured at Ceylon in 
1560, and carried to Goa, where they were dissected by the physi- 
cian to the Viceroy, and " their internal structure found to be in 
all respects similar to the human ! " A dugong, killed at Ceylon in 
1847, measured upwards of seven feet in length, but specimens 
considerably larger have been taken. 

The female dugong, or sea-cow of Sumatra, will follow her young 
to the death, and is usually taken with them. The sea-calves have 
a short, sharp, pitiable cry, which they frequently repeat, and, like 
the stricken deer, are also said to shed tears, which, according to 
Sir Stamford Raffles, were carefully bottled by the common people, 
and preserved as charms to secure affection. 

Only one species of the Stetterus — of the same genus as the two I 
have mentioned — has been known, about twenty-five feet in length, 
a native of the Polar seas, and never observed since the middle of 
last century, so that it is supposed to be extinct. The characteristic 
features of this animal would lead one to suppose, also, that it may 
have contributed to the misconceptions about the mermaid. 

Mr. Rimbault, in " Notes and Queries," remarks that the exhibi- 
tion of strange fishes appears to have been at its height in the reign 
of Elizabeth. Shakespere twice alludes to it : once in the "Winter's 
Tale " (Act IV., Scene 3), where Autolycus says : " Here's another 
ballad of a fish that appeared upon the coast on Wednesday, the 
fourscore of April, forty thousand fathoms above water, and sung 
this ballad against the hard hearts of maids. It was thought she 
was a woman, and was turned into a cold fish, for she would not 
exchange flesh with one that loved her. The ballad is very pitiful. 



266 CURIOUS NOTICES OF MONSTROUS FISHES. 

and as true;" and again in the "Tempest" (Act II., Scene 2). A 
printed notice, dated 1566, has for its title "The Description of a 
Rare or rather Most Monstrous Fishe, taken on the East Coast of 
Holland, the 17th November, Anno 1566," with a woodcut of the 
fish, and underneath the following lines : 

' i The workes of God, how great and strange they be J 
A picture plaine, behold, heare you may see." 

Two years later there is another printed notice of " a moste true 
and marvellous straunge wonder, the lyke hathe seldom been seene, 
of xvii monstrous fishes, taken in SufFulke, at Downam Brydge, 
within a myle of Ipswiche, the xi daye of October, in the yeare of 
our Lorde God 1568." Stow, in his " Annales," gives a particular 
description of this "wondrous draught of fishes," some of them 
being " eight and twentie foote in length at least." 

Wolfe, in 1586, printed a broadside containing an account of a 
monster fish found in the stomach of a horse ! The registers of the 
Stationers' Company contain an entry in 1604 of " a strange reporte 
of a monstrous fish that appeared in the form of a woman from the 
waist upwards, seene in the sea." 

Even in 1822, a so-called mermaid was publicly exhibited in 
London, which continued to be shown to the curious in these 
matters for many months, but the monster was found to have been 
constructed of the members of various animals, dexterously put 
together. Some amusing lines appeared at the period, which I 
will transcribe: 

" Come, mistress mermaid, tell us, for you Ve seen 
The deeps and things proud Science pines to see 5 
Be kind, and say if you have ever been 

In worlds the poets deck with imagery. 
Say, as you floated on the green sea's billow, 
Didst e'er see Neptune's car, or Amphitrite's pillow ? 

" Now, are there really coral caves below, 

Or beds of amber, or of precious stone, 
To which the blushing Nereids languid go 

In idle hours to recline upon ? 
And are there fays to fan them while they 're dreaming, 
Whose wings seem like two diamonds' purest gleaming? 



A "STUFFED" MERMAID. 267 

u Come, tell the truth, for none, dear mermaid, 's by., 

To stop you short, or tweak you by the nose, 
Or contradict you should you tell a lie, 

As you the secrets of the deep disclose. 
Therefore be candid, and declare this minute 
The wonders of the sea, and all that 's in it, 

" Alas ! you 're dumb, and cannot even say, 

As quick you speed from giant sea to sea. 
How many sharks you Ve numbered in a day, 

Or, if you fought them, or thought it best to flee, 
Quite mute you are, and quite absurd the notion, 
For thee to pump for secrets of the ocean. 

c * Farewell, dumb thing ! perhaps the next we find 

So long a time may not require to woo, 
'T will speak, perchance, and haply prove most kind, 

And tell us all we Ve useless sought of you — 
Rare information yielding on the morning 
She 's clapped within the glass case you 're adorning.* 



JZjl^U^^ ^W 






CHAPTER XXIV. 

MODES OF FISHING IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 

u A thousand names a fisher might rehearse 
Of nets intractable in smoother verse. " 

Oppian. 

HE use of nets for entrapping the finny inhabitants of the 
deep date from the earliest periods. Besides the frequent 
mention of them in the Holy Scriptures, we find illustra- 
tions in the bas-reliefs of Assyria, Greece, and Rome, and in the 
mural or wall paintings of Egypt. The latter nation delighted in 
fishing, and, not contented with the abundance afforded by the 
Nile, they constructed in their grounds spacious sluices or ponds 
for fish, like the vivaria of the Romans, where they fed them for 
the table, and amused themselves by angling. The fishermen, who 
composed one of the sub-divisions of the Egyptian castes, gene- 
rally used the net in preference to the line. The ancients enter- 
tained a number of prejudices relative to the wholesomeness or 
injurious qualities of certain fish. The priests in Egypt were 
prohibited from eating fish of any kind. For fear of leprosy, the 
people also were forbidden the use of any fish not covered with 
scales. Moses adopted the same principles with the Jews : 
" Whatever hath fin or scales in the water in the seas, them shalt 
thou eat ; whatever hath no fins or scales in the waters, that shall 
be an abomination to you." 
The Greeks and Romans used nets ; trawling at sea was also § 



VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS OF NETS. 269 

favourite mode of angling, and harpoons were in general use, by 
means of which many large fish were secured. Some mosaics' 
discovered at Palestrina represented men engaged in taking fish 
out of a reedy decoy by means of small hand-nets. Arrian, in his 
"Indian History," mentions a people on the coasts of the Persian 
Gulf, who had nets capable of covering a quarter of a mile of sea,^ 
not made of twine, for hemp and flax were unknown in the land, 
but of the inner bark of palm trees, being, in fact, papyrus nets. 

In the dialogues composed by Elfric to instruct the Saxon 
youths in the Latin language, which are yet preserved to us in the 
Cottonian manuscripts, a fisherman is asked how he secures his 
prey, and he answers, " I ascend my ship and cast my net into 
the river ; I also throw in a hook, a bait, and a rod j" which shows 
that in the earliest periods of our own country, nets of various 
kinds were employed for entrapping fish; indeed, although St. 
Wilfrid is said to have taught the people of Sussex the use of the 
net (probably an improved kind), such means have been employed 
in different ways from remotest times. One remark I may add to 
this, that until recently fishing-nets have always been made hy 
hand, and generally the thread has been a more or less thick* 
twine of hemp or flax, the thickness of the twine and the size of 
the mesh depending upon the kind of fish for which it was made ; 
recently, however, great improvements have been made in the 
manufacture of nets, and machinery of the most beautiful minute 
kind has been invented for the purpose. 

A great variety of nets are in use among fishermen, but the 
principal are the seine, trawl, and drift nets. The first is a very long 
but not very wide net, one side of which is loaded with pieces of 
lead, and consequently sinks ; the other, or upper, is buoyed with 
pieces of cork, and is consequently kept on the surface of the 
water. Seines are sometimes upwards of a thousand feet in. length. 
When stretched out they constitute walls of network in the water, 
and are made to enclose vast shoals of fish. The trawl is dragged 
along the bottom of the sea by the fishing-boat ; and the drift-net 
is like the seine, but is not loaded with lead, and is usually em- 
ployed for mackerel fishing. In the two fishery exhibitions at 



2?o PISHING BY THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 

Arcachon and Boulogne in France, a few years ago, a number of 
curious implements for the capture of the inhabitants of the deep 
were shown. In one corner were curious tongs for taking eels. 
Long stretches of netting for the sardine fishery, woven with 
thread so fine that it might be used for the manufacture of ladies' 
hose, were festooned over a division of the buildings. At another 
place was a leech-lifter, and near it were deadly traps for taking 
crabs and lobsters. From the roofs hung stxetches of Scotch-made 
herring-nets, by far the best of their kind; and with such a wall 
of meshes floating in the sea as these nets present to the fish, each 
stretch being about a mile long, and with a fleet of a few hundred 
boats nightly centred on some well-known fishing-ground, the 
wonder is, not that fishes are scarce and dear, but that a single 
herring could escape. In the two exhibitions I have mentioned 
there was shown an array of fishing machinery truly wonderful for 
ingenuity of construction and power of capture. 

In 1864 an attempt was first made to fish by the electric light 
at Dunkirk. A magneto-electric machine was afterwards employed. 
The light was constant at one hundred and eighty feet underwater, 
and it extended over a large surface. As soon as the submarine 
lantern was immersed, shoals of fish of every description came to 
sport in the illuminated circle, while the fishermen outside it spread 
their nets from the boats. The light illuminating the deep sea, 
the fish arriving in shoals, attracted by the fictitious sun, the boats 
at the edge of the lighted circle, the deep silence interrupted only 
by the grating of the electro-magnetic machine, formed altogether 
an imposing sight. 

Before I leave this part of my subject I may mention a curious 
nvention stated in Rymer's " Fcedera," for which Charles I. granted 
a patent in 1632 to a physician, "for a fish-call or looking-glass 
for fishes in the sea, very useful for fishermen to call all kinds of 
■fishes to their nets" 

A singular method of getting fish is that in which other animals 
are employed for the purpose. Birds are thus trained by the 
Chinese. Falcons are not more sagacious in the pursuit of their 
prey in the air than in another element. They are called alvoau f 



BIRDS TRAINED TO FISH. 27 1 

and are about the size of a goose, with grey plumage, webbed feet, 
and have a long and slender bill, crooked at the point. Their 
faculty of diving, or remaining under water, is not more extra- 
ordinary than that of many other fowls that prey upon fish, but 
the wonderful circumstance is the docility of these birds in em- 
ploying their natural instinctive powers at the command of the 
fishermen who possess them, in the same manner as the hound, 
the spaniel, or the pointer submit their respective sagacity to the 
huntsman or the fowler. The number of these birds in a boat is 
proportioned to the size of it. At a certain signal they rush into 
the water and dive after the fish, and the moment they have seized 
their prey, they fly with it to their boat, and though there may be 
a hundred of these vessels together, the birds always return to their 
own masters; and amidst the crowd of fishing-junks which are 
sometimes assembled on these occasions, they never fail to dis- 
tinguish that to which they belong. When the fish are in great 
plenty, these astonishing purveyors will soon fill a boat with them, 
and will sometimes be seen flying along with a fish of such size as 
to make the beholder suspect his organs of vision; and such is 
their sagacity that when one of them happens to have taken a fish 
which is too large for a single falcon, the rest immediately lend 
their assistance. While they are thus labouring for their masters, 
they are prevented from paying any attention to themselves by a 
ring which is passed round their necks, and is so contrived as to 
frustrate every attempt to swallow the least morsel of what they 
take. They eat thankfully what is afterwards given them in reward. 
One of the old domestic sports of the Earls of Menteith, in their 
island home of Talk, was fishing with geese. A line with a baited 
hook was tied to the leg of a goose, which was made to swim in 
water of proper depth. A boat well filled escorted this formidable 
knight-errant. A marauding fish would take hold of the bait, and 
put his mettle to the test. A combat ensued, in which, by the 
display of both contending heroes of much strength and agility, 
the goose always came off victorious, and would drag his prisoner 
to the boat in triumph. 

No nation on the earth puts in practice a greater variety of modes 



2^2 CLEVER TRICKS OF THE CHINESE FISHERMEN. 

for catching fish than the Chinese. One method is to nail on each 
side of long narrow boats a plank two feet broad, covered with 
white shining japan, and placed by a gentle inclination so that its 
lower edge just touches the surface of the water. This device is 
used at night, with the intent that the reflection of the moon should 
increase its deceptive influence ; and whether the fish which are 
sporting around are dazzled by the splendour, or merely mistake 
the lustrous plank for the sparkling water, it is impossible to say, 
but in their moonlight gambols great numbers either fall on the 
plank and are secured, or fairly vault into the body of the boat. 

In some places the Chinese soldiers have acquired the dexterous 
art of shooting fish with bows and arrows. To the arrow a long 
piece of packthread is attached, by means of which, when the fish 
is pierced, it is drawn to hand. In other places the muddy bottom 
is so replenished with the finny tribes, that men standing up to the 
waist in the water strike them with sticks. Besides these various 
devices, another is in general use, and consists in stretching out a 
net on four pieces of bamboo suspended by a long pole. 

The South Sea islanders are expert fishermen, and their methods 
for the capture of the finny tribe are numerous, and some very in- 
genious. They have, as Mr. Ellis informs us, a singular mode of 
taking a remarkably timorous fish, which is called the needle, on 
account of its long sharp head. A number of rafts are built, each 
about fifteen or twenty feet long, and six or eight wide. At one 
edge a kind of fence or screen is raised four or five feet by fixing 
the poles horizontally one above the other, and fastening them to 
upright sticks placed at short distances along the raft. The men 
on the raft go out at a distance from each other, enclosing a large 
space of water, having the raised part or frame on the outside. 
They gradually approach each other till the rafts join, and form a 
connected circle in some shallow. One or two persons then go in 
a small canoe towards the centre of the enclosed space, with long 
white sticks, which they strike in the water with a great noise, and 
by this means drive the fish towards the rafts. On approaching 
these the fish dart out of the water, and in attempting to spring 
over the raft, strike against the raised fence on the outer side, and 



MODE OF FISHING OF PACIFIC ISLANDERS, 273 

fall on the surface of the horizontal part, when they are gathered 
into baskets or canoes on the outside. In this manner great numbers 
of these and other kinds of fish, that are accustomed to spring out 
of the water when alarmed or pursued, are taken with facility. 
Fishing-nets are remarkably well made, and those for casting are 
used with great dexterity, generally as the islanders walk along the 
beach. When a shoal of small fish appear, they throw the net with 
the right hand, and sometimes enclose the greater part of them. 

Next to the net the spear is most frequently used. This is darted 
at the fish, sometimes with one hand, but more frequently with 
both, and very successfully. When fishing on the reefs, they wear 
a kind of sandal made of closely-netted cords of the cloth plant, 
to preserve their feet from the edges of the shells, the spikes of the 
sea-urchins, &c. 

" I have often," observes Mr. Ellis, "when passing across the bay, 
stopped to gaze on a group of fishermen standing on a coral reef 
or rock, amidst the roar of the billows, and the dashing surf and 
foam that broke in magnificent splendour around them. With 
unwavering glance they have stood, with a little basket in one 
hand and a pointed spear in the other, striking with unerring aim 
such fish as the violence of the wave might force within their 
reach." 

The shell, or shell and bone, hooks, are curious and useful, 
answering the purpose of hook and bait, the small ones being 
made circular, and bent so as to resemble a worm ; but the most 
common one is that used in catching dolphins, albicores, and 
bonitos. The shank of the hook is made with a piece of the 
mother-of-pearl shell, five or six inches long and three-quarters of 
an inch wide, carefully cut and finely polished, so as to resemble 
the body of a fish. A. barb is fastened by a firm bandage of finely- 
twisted flax ; to the lower part of this the end of the line is securely 
fastened. When taken out to sea, the line is attached to a strong 
bamboo cane about twelve or fifteen feet long. When a shoal of 
fish is seen, the natives who angle, sit in the stern of the canoe, 
and hold the rod at such an elevation as to allow the hook to 
touch the edge of the water, but not to sink. When the fish ap- 

13 



274 INGENIOUS ARTS IN FISHING. 

proach it, the rowers ply their paddles briskly, and the light bark 
moves rapidly along. The deception of the hook is increased by 
a number of hairs or bristles being attached to the end of the 
shell, so as to resemble the tail of a flying-fish. The victims, dart- 
ing after and grasping their prey, are at once secured. During 
the season two men will sometimes take twenty or thirty large fish 
iii this way in the course of the forenoon. 

The most ingenious method, however, of taking these large fish 
is by means of a mast. A pair of ordinary-sized canoes is usually 
selected for this purpose, and the lighter and swifter the more 
suitable they are esteemed. Between the fore-part of the canoes a 
broad, deep, oblong kind of basket is constructed with the stalks 
of a strong kind of fern, interwoven with tough fibres of a tree : 
this is to contain the fish that may be taken. To the fore-part of 
the canoes a long curved pole is fastened, branching in opposite 
directions at the outer end ; the foot of this rests in a kind of 
socket fixed between the two canoes. From each of the projecting 
branches lines with pearl-shell hooks are suspended, so adjusted as 
to be kept near the surface of the water. To that part of the pole 
which is divided into two branches strong ropes are attached ; these 
extend to the stern of the canoe, where they are held by persons 
watching the seizure of the hook. The tira, or mast, projects a 
considerable distance beyond the stern of the canoe, and bunches 
of feathers are fastened to its extremities. This is done to resemble 
the aquatic birds which follow the course of the small fish. As it 
is supposed that the bonito follows the birds with as much ardour as 
it does the fishes, when the fishermen perceive the birds they proceed 
to the place, and usually find the fish. The undulation of the waves 
occasions the canoe to rise and sink as they proceed, and this pro- 
duces a corresponding action in the hook suspended from the mast; 
and so complete is the deception that if the fish once perceives the 
pearl-shell hook, it seldom fails to dart after it, and if it misses the 
first time is almost sure to be caught the second. As soon as the 
fish is fast, the men in the canoe, by drawing the cord, hoist up 
the mast and drag in the fish, suspended as it were from a kind of 
crane. When the fish is removed the crane is lowered, and as it 



THE CANDLE-FISH. 275 

projects over the canoe the rowers hasten after the shoal with the 
greatest speed. 

These and a variety of other methods of fishing are pursued by 
daylight, but many fish are taken by night. Sometimes the fish- 
ery is carried on by moonlight, occasionally in the dark ; but fishing 
by torchlight is the most picturesque. The torches are bunches of 
dried reeds firmly tied together. Sometimes the natives pursue their 
nocturnal sport on the reef, and hunt the hedge-hog-fish. Large 
parties often go out to the reef, and it is a beautiful sight to see a 
long line of rocks illuminated by the flaring torches. These the 
fishermen hold in one hand, and stand with the poised spear in 
the other, ready to strike as soon as the fish appears. 

The Indians on the coasts of the Pacific have also a singular 
mode of taking the Caiidle-fish or Eulachon, a most valuable ac- 
quisition to their domestic comforts. Immense shoals approach 
the shores in summer, and are caught in moonlight nights, when 
they come to sport on the surface of the water, which may often 
be seen glittering with their multitudes. The Indians paddle their 
canoes noiselessly amongst them, and catch them by means of a 
monster comb or rake — a piece of pine-wood from six to eight 
feet long, made round for about two feet of its length at the place 
of the hand-gripe, the rest flat, thick at the back, but having a 
sharp edge at the front, where teeth are driven into it, about four 
inches long and an inch apart. One Indian, sitting in the stern, 
paddles the canoe; another, standing with his face to the bow, 
holds the rake firmly in both hands, the teeth pointing sternwards, 
sweeps it with all his force through the glittering mass, and brings 
it to the surface teeth upwards, usually with a fish, and sometimes 
with three or four, impaled on each tooth. This process is carried 
on with wonderful rapidity. This fish, although not larger than a 
smelt, enjoys the distinction of being probably the fattest of all 
animals, comparatively speaking : to boil or fry it is impossible, as 
it melts entirely into oil. Even in a dried state the Indians use it 
as a lamp, merely drawing through it a piece of rush pith as a 
wick, and the fish then burns steadily until consumed. By a pecu- 
liar mode of preparation, these fishes are preserved as a winttf' 1 

38—3 



276 THE WHITE PORPOISE. 

food, and notwithstanding their great fatness, they are said to be 
of an agreeable flavour. Drying is accomplished without any 
cleaning, the fish being fastened on skewers passed through their 
eyes, and hung in the thick smoke at the top of sheds in which 
wood fires are kept burning. They are then stowed away for 
winter. 

Turning to other countries, we will now glance at the White 
Porpoise fishing in the St. Lawrence, one of the largest rivers in 
North America, issuing from Lake Ontario, and falling into the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. The animal I have mentioned is a species 
of whale, and is chiefly common in those quarters, being valuable 
for its oil, which gives a brilliant light only surpassed by gas, and 
its skin, which is manufactured into leather which has no equal for 
quality. The fish was formerly taken in enclosures made of light 
and flexible poles fixed in the beach, within which the porpoise 
pursued the small members of the finny tribe during high tide, 
and where, its appetite once satisfied, it became heavy and almost 
asleep from gluttony, and seemed to forget for several hours the 
dangers that surrounded it as the tide went out. The fishermen, 
silent, and on the look-out on the cliff, having seen that the waves 
had retreated, give the signal : two or three light skiffs (either 
bark or wooden canoes), manned by three or four expert rowers, 
appear upon the waves, which they scarcely touch with their oars. 
Standing in the bow of each of these canoes, a man with bare 
and muscular arm, a steel spear in his hand, intently follows with 
his eye the track of the fish, indicating the course to be taken, 
whether to the right or left, and strikes the mortal blows. Often 
after one of these vigorous strokes, which are enough to kill the 
largest porpoise, the spearsman may be seen, when he does not 
strike aright, urging on the pursuit for a new contest of speed be- 
tween his skiff and the wounded animal : sometimes the blood 
which reddens the surface of the water indicates the course to be 
followed, and sometimes the sound of the subdued breathing ot 
the porpoise, which comes to the surface of the water to breathe, 
throwing up a stream which descends in the form of a curve. The 
porpoise might break through this fence of flexible poles, eighteen 



PORPOISES SERVED AT ROYAL TABLES. 277 

or twenty inches apart, but it is afraid, and returns by the way it 
came : a new stroke is given, But it is by a harpoon which has a 
rope attached to it. The struggle becomes more intense and ex- 
citing. The paddle at the stern of the frail skiff is alone put in 
requisition. It is now the boatman's turn to display his skill. 
The animal leaps out of the water, stops, dives, and turns about 
in every way ; a white foam rises on each side of the boat, and its 
progress, hitherto so swift, is suddenly stopped; the animal is 
fatigued by its wound, wants to breathe, but fear keeps it below 
the water, and immediately the man in the bow rolls up at his 
knee the line which he had allowed to run out, and the boat is 
brought silently forward towards the victim. Again he stands up 
and with one hand brandishes his spear, while with the other he 
suddenly pulls the rope, inflicting fresh wounds: the fish once 
more leaps, but this time is the last, for a vigorous blow aimed at 
the spine between the head and neck is fatal. 

Another plan is to use nets for entrapping the porpoise. The 
weight of one of these fishes is about two thousand five hundred 
pounds : the largest are sometimes four thousand pounds, and 
these are about twenty-two feet long and fifteen in circumference. 

I may remark here that the flesh of the common porpoise was 
j formerly much esteemed in our own country, and was reckoned 
■fit for the royal table. Among the singular directions for the 
management of the household of King Henry VIII., we find 
among the dainty dishes to be " set before the king " a porpoise, 
"and if too big for a horse-load, an extra allowance to be given to 
the purveyor." In the time of Queen Elizabeth it was still used 
by the nobles of England, and was served up with bread-crumbs 
and vinegar. 

A curious mode of fishing the Gar-fish or Sea-Pike, in the Ionian 
Islands, is mentioned by Mr. Yarrell. A small triangular raft is 
formed of three pieces of bamboo, each a foot and a half long ; 
a little thwart is inserted, in which a small mast is fixed \ it is then 
rigged with a sail, &c, in imitation of the boats of the country. 
The fisherman, taking his station on a projecting rock, with deep 
water alongside, and an off-shore breeze, commits his little raft to 



27 8 CAPTURING THE TUNNY. 

the wind, carrying with it a line of about two hundred feet in 
length. A float is fixed at about every six feet, and from each 
float depends a fine hair-line with a baited hook. When the fish 
bites it draws the bait down violently once, and then seems to 
resign itself to death. The fisherman waits till ten or twelve are 
hooked ; he then hauls in his raft, relieves it of its freight, and 
again launches it for another cruise. Fifty or sixty are sometimes 
caught in this way during half an hour. 

The gar-fish is not uncommon on our coasts, and is abundant 
in the Baltic. It attains a length of two or three feet. The upper 
parts of the body are of a dark greenish-blue mackerel tint, and a 
curious circumstance is that its bones are green. Mr. Couch re- 
marks that when this fish is taken by the hook, it mounts to the 
surface often before the fishermen have felt the bite, and there, 
with its slender body half out of the water, struggles with the most 
violent contortions to wrench the hook from its hold. 

In various chapters of this book I have already mentioned the 
mode of capturing the large inhabitants of the deep — the whale, the 
seal, the shark, sea-unicorn, and others. I must not omit another 
important fish of large dimensions, the Tunny, sometimes nine feet 
in length and upwards of a thousand pounds in weight, and belong- 
ing to the Mackerel family. This fish is found in the Mediterranean 
and the Atlantic Ocean, but chiefly in the former, where this par- 
ticular fishery is of great importance, and constitutes one of the 
greatest branches of Sicilian commerce. The fish appear at the 
latter end of May, at which time the tonnaire, as they are called, 
are prepared for their reception. This is a kind of aquatic castle, 
formed, at a considerable expense, of strong nets fastened to the 
bottom of the sea by anchors and heavy-laden weights. The ton- 
naires are fixed in the passages amongst the rocks and islands that 
are most frequented by the tunny-fish. Care is taken to close with 
nets the entrance into these passages, except one small opening, 
which is called the " outer gate." This leads into the next com- 
partment, which we may term the " hall." As soon as the fishes 
have entered here, the fishermen who stand sentries in their boats 
during the season shut the outer entrance, which is done by letting 



THE STURGEON. 279 



down a small piece of net, portcullis-fashion, which effectually pre- 
vents the tunnies from returning by the way they came. The inner 
door of the "hall" is then opened, which leads to another compart- 
ment, and by making a noise on the surface of the water the tunnies 
are soon driven into it. As soon as the whole have been got into 
this compartment, the inner door of the "hall" is again closed, and 
the outer entrance is opened to receive more fishes. The last com- 
partment of network is called the " chamber of death." This is 
composed of stronger nets and heavier anchors than the others. 

As soon as a sufficient number of tunny-fish has been collected 
here, the slaughter begins. The fishermen attack the poor defence- 
less animals on all sides, who dash the water about in their efforts 
to escape, but are at length subdued, and yield themselves a prey 
to their conquerors. 

" There is something," says Mr. Badham, a witness of this fish 
massacre, " extremely exciting in seeing the wholesale capture of a 
herd of these great black fish, intermixed, as they generally are, with 
the forms of many of their large congeners, and occasionally with a 
sword-fish or a dolphin besides ; and no one ever left the spot after 
one of these enormous hauls without feeling that, however superior 
the whale fishery may be in enterprise, it cannot yield its votaries 
half the pleasures or charms of these scenes." 

A very questionable kind of pleasure, however, I think it must 
be to many, to see the agonies and the butchery which must neces- 
sarily take place on these occasions. 

The Sturgeon fishery is carried on to a very considerable extent 
in the Russian dominions on the coasts of the Caspian and Aral 
Seas. They are caught in an enclosure formed by large stakes, 
representing the letter Z repeated several times. These fisheries 
are open on the side nearest the sea, and closed on the other, by 
which means the fish, ascending in its season up the rivers, are 
caught in these narrow angular retreats, and are easily killed. The 
Hon. Captain Keppell, describing the method of catching sturgeon 
in the fishery of Karmaizack, says : 

"Two persons are in each boat; one (generally a female) rows, 
while the other hauls in the fish. The instruments used consist of 



2§o THE STURGEON A ROYAL FIStf. 

a mallet and a stick, with a large imbarbed hook at the end. Every 
fisherman has a certain number of lines. One line contains fifty 
hooks; these are placed at regular distances from each other; they 
are without barbs, sunk about a foot under water, and are kept in 
motion by small pieces of wood attached to them. The sturgeon 
generally swims in a large shoal near the surface of the water, and 
upon being caught by one hook, he generally gets entangled with 
one or two others in his struggles to escape. Immediately on our 
arrival the boats pushed from shore. Each fisherman proceeded 
to take up his lines. On coming to a fish he drew it with his hooked 
stick to the side of the boat, hit it a violent blow on the head with 
the mallet, and, after disengaging it from the other hooks, hauled it 
into the boat. On every side the tremendous splashing of the water 
announced the capture of some huge inhabitant of the deep." 

The sturgeon belongs to a numerous species inhabiting both sea 
and fresh water — those of the former, and the largest kind, being 
especially plentiful in the Caspian and Black Seas, where they 
attain a length of from twenty to twenty-five feet, and have been 
known to weigh nearly three thousand pounds. The flesh has the 
appearance and consistency of veal, and was highly esteemed by 
the ancients. Pliny states that it was brought to table with much 
pomp, and ornamented with flowers, the slaves who carried it being 
also decorated with garlands and accompanied with music. 

In England, when caught in the Thames and within the jurisdic- 
tion of the city, it is reserved for the Sovereign as a " royal fish." 
In the " Illustrated London News," for the 15th of April, i860, is a 
notice of a fine sturgeon thus taken, and forwarded to the Queen 
at Windsor by order of the conservators of the river. 

The famous caviare of the Russians is made from the roe of the 
sturgeon, freed from its membranes, washed in vinegar, and dried 
in the open air. It is then salted, put into a bag and pressed, and 
finally packed in small barrels for sale. 

The principal fishery of the Conger Eel in our country is upon 
the Cornish coast. They are chiefly caught by what are termed 
" bulters," which are strong lines, several hundred feet long, with 
hooks about eight feet apart, baited with sand-launces, pilchards, 



Difference between sea-congers and eels. 281 

or mackerel. The bulters are sunk to the ground by a stone fas- 
tened to them. Sometimes such a number of these are tied toge- 
ther as to reach to a considerable distance. It is not unusual for 
a boat with three men to bring on shore from one to two tons as 
the produce of a night's fishing, the conger being caught most 
readily at night. 

On some of the French coasts the conger fishery is still more 
abundant than in Cornwall. 

The great sea-conger has so great a resemblance to the common 
eel, the inhabitant of our rivers and ponds, that many persons be- 
lieved the former was merely an eel of larger growth; but the dif- 
ference may be readily discerned. The conger, whether large or 
small, has always the snout and upper jaw projecting beyond the 
lower one ; whilst the fresh-water eel is remarkable for its protu- 
berant lower jaw. The tail is also more lengthened and pointed, 
the dorsal fin commencing much nearer the head, and the teeth 
of the upper jaw, although slender, placed so close together as to 
form a cutting edge. The internal structure of these fishes differs 
more widely, the conger having a great many more bones than the 
eel, particularly towards the tail, and in possessing a greater num- 
ber of vertebrae (the spine or backbone). 

The common conger of our coasts is a large fish, sometimes 
exceeding ten feet in length, and weighing upwards of a hundred 
pounds, but its ordinary dimensions are from five to seven feet. 
It is entirely a marine species, although frequently found in the 
mouths of rivers, its object being, it is thought, that of feeding on 
the fish that ascend or descend the stream. Of these it devours large 
quantities, not objecting to crabs and shell-fish, which the strength 
of its jaws permits it to masticate without difficulty. The smaller 
kinds of fish it swallows entire, and thus fortified by good nourish- 
ment, it becomes a formidable adversary when hauled into the 
boat by a fisherman's line, or found among the rocks, where it is 
sometimes left by the retiring tide. Pennant says : (in his time) 
" fishermen are very fearful of large congers, lest they should en- 
danger their legs by clinging round them ; they therefore kill them 
as soon as possible. * 



2%i THE SAND-EEL FISHERY. 

I believe this is not a matter of complaint in our time. The 
conger, however formidable, also finds a dangerous adversary in 
the spiny lobster of the Mediterranean Sea, which is said to enter 
into a fierce battle with the conger, and generally becomes the 
victor, from the superiority of its weapons of defence, the claws, 
which lacerate and wound the monstrous eel, proving the death 
summons. 

The conger, when properly cooked, has a most delicious flavour, 
but somehow or other there is a great antipathy to the fish, as 
being, probably, too much of the serpent form ; but travellers in 
Cornwall find a conger-pie delicious, and those persons who have 
visited the Channel Islands will not easily forget the delicious 
soup that is made from this fish. Even as far back as the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth, there was a singular mode of curing congers in 
Cornwall, which was merely to slit them in half, and without any 
further preparation to hang them up in a kind of shambles erected 
for that purpose : such parts of them as were not gone, were con- 
sidered fit for use, and exported to Spain and Portugal. 

The Sand-Eel fishery, although of a very primitive character, 
being mostly carried on with spades, shovels, three-pronged forks, 
rakes, and in fact any implement of a raking character at hand, is 
very exciting and amusing. I have often in the Channel Islands 
(Guernsey) enjoyed this amusement, which usually takes place on 
a clear moonlight night. Large shoals are observed frequently 
swimming near the shore, and it often happens that, instead of 
retiring with the ebbing tide, they dig into the sand (whence their 
name), and remain there until the water covers them again. Ad- 
vantage is taken of this, and hundreds of men, women, and chil- 
dren set to work with the readiest implements they can find, and 
the scene becomes very animated. When dug from the sand the 
fish leap about with singular velocity, and the gathering of them 
affords a fine amusement to the younger parties, who are com- 
monly the most numerous and eager in this pursuit. It is remark- 
able with what ease and rapidity these slender and delicate-looking 
fish penetrate the sand, even when it is of a pretty firm texture. 
They are a favourite meal with many, and are sometimes salted 



THE MACKEREL. 283 



and dried ; but their principal use is as bait for the capture of more 
valuable fishes, there being scarcely any other found to answer the 
purpose so effectually. This well-known fish scarcely ever exceeds 
seven or eight inches. 

The Mackerel belongs to the same family as the tunny-fish, 
which I have just described, but is a comparatively small member 
as regards size, being usually about fourteen inches long and about 
two pounds in weight. This beautiful fish (as you may have 
remarked, a vivid green and blue) is readily caught by bait, and 
particularly when the bait — which is usually a piece from one 
of its own kind — is moved quickly through the water. The boats 
engaged for this fishing are often under sail. Besides the line, 
drift-nets and seines are employed. The size of the mesh is one 
inch and one-sixth from knot to knot when the twine is wet, or 
in the square, from one corner to another. A row of corks runs 
along the head-line, and the lower border is left suspended by its 
own weight. The number of nets in each boat depends upon its 
size. A boat of Yarmouth may carry eleven score of nets, and as 
these are fastened in length to each other, they will extend to a 
distance of a mile and three-quarters. More than a hundred boats 
assemble at Plymouth during the season, and a wide extent of sea 
is consequently swept by the nets. These are shot across the 
course of the tide twice between evening and morning; for fish 
avoid the nets during the day, and scarcely less so during very 
dark nights. This latter circumstance is caused by the light pro- 
duced in the sea by luminous animals, which then appears most 
conspicuous ; and hence a hazy atmosphere is judged beneficial. 
The use of lights is employed in some countries. Bloch, in speak- 
ing of the mackerel fishery, says, that at St. Croix, on the approach 
of night, when the sea is smooth, they prepare their torches, and 
hold them as close to the water as possible. The fish soon show 
themselves, and rise above the surface, when the nets are imme- 
diately shot, and soon taken in with abundant success. 

When the shoal of mackerel approaches the land the seine 
comes into operation. This consists of a single net, which, on the 
east coast of Cornwall, is about seven hundred feet in length, and 



284 GREAT CONSUMPTION OF MACKEREL. 

seventy in depth at the middle. The full size of the mesh from 
corner to corner is two and three-quarter inches at the sides, which 
is the same dimension allowed to the drift-net ; but for about two 
hundred feet of the hollow, the size of the mesh is lessened to 
two and a half inches, to prevent the fish from being hung in the 
meshes ; for if this should happen, the net would not be raised from 
the bottom, and fish and net would be lost. Shoals of mackerel are 
rapid in their motion, and exceedingly uncertain, as well as easily 
alarmed. They rarely stay long at the surface, and when they sink 
below it is doubtful in what direction they may again appear. The 
whole proceedings are, therefore, full of excitement, and great haste 
is employed to enclose them in the circle of the seine. 

The mackerel is a favourite article of food, but its flesh soon 
changes ; and a capture that might have proved valuable, may be 
rendered worthless if the fishes are not at once sent to the market. 
A principal object of the French fishery is to prepare the mackerel 
salted for use at home, for which purpose they are immediately 
stored in bulk on board the boats. In the west of Cornwall, also, 
considerable numbers are salted, chiefly for the use of miners, who 
seem to prefer salted fish to even the fresh that abound in the finest 
condition in their markets. 

It was formerly supposed that great migrations of mackerel took 
place, but it is now believed, as in regard to the herring, that they 
merely leave the deep water and approach the coast for the purpose 
of spawning. The mackerel is of less importance than the herring 
fishery. It is a restless, ever-wandering rover, and unlike the herring 
in its habits in that respect. It is found in large numbers in the 
Mediterranean. 

The Yarmouth boats have occasionally realized a sum of thirty- 
five thousand pounds in a season from the sale of mackerel. The 
average consumption in London alone has been estimated at 
twenty-five millions. The south coast of England — wherever there 
is a range of beach suitable for seining — the neighbourhood of 
Brighton, and a considerable sweep of the coast to the west of 
Portland, are well known as excellent fisheries for mackerel. 

Let us now turn to other fish, and perhaps the Herring fishery 



THE HERRING FISHERY. 285 

affords one of the best illustrations of British enterprise. We must 
now proceed to the Norfolk coast, for it is there that this most 
valuable fish is found in the greatest abundance, perhaps more so 
than in any other part of the world. The name of the fish is derived 
from the German heer " an army," in reference to the vast shoals 
in which they arrive. The herrings appear on the Norfolk coast in 
the last week of September for the purpose of spawning, and are 
then in the best condition to become the food of man. Having 
fulfilled this obligation of nature, they return to their former haunts 
about the commencement of December. A few, however, may be 
found at other periods of the year, particularly about midsummer ; 
and, although small, they are much esteemed for their delicate 
flavour. The Yarmouth herring has less oil than the Scotch herring, 
but is unrivalled in point of quality. It seldom measures more than 
fourteen inches in length, in girth six inches and a half, and it 
weighs about nine ounces. The vessels employed by Yarmouth in 
this fishery are usually decked boats, of from forty to fifty tons 
burthen, and carrying a crew of ten men. Besides the boats be- 
longing to the town, there are many others called " cobles," which 
come from Scarborough, Filey, and other northern ports. Each 
fishing-boat is provided with from sixty to one hundred nets, each 
net about fifteen yards long upon the rope, fastened by small cords 
called " seizings." These nets are floated by corks placed at inter- 
vals of a few feet from each other ; the warp which supports the 
whole is frequently a mile in length, and is borne up by small buoys. 
The nets themselves are usually made in four parts or widths, called 
"lints," one being placed above another, and so forming a wall in 
the sea, against which the fish are invited to drive their heads. 

This fishing is carried on during the night only, it being supposed 
that the stretching of the nets in the day-time would drive away the 
shoal. In the dusk of the evening the nets are thrown over the 
side, and the boat is then steered under an easy sail, or allowed to 
drift with the tide until daylight, when the nets are hauled in. A 
single boat has sometimes, in one night, taken twelve or fourteen 
lasts of herrings, each " last ■■ numbering ten thousand fish, or, by 
the fisherman's calculation, thirteen thousand two hundred ; but it 



286 CURING HERRINGS. 

often happens that a boat does not obtain more than this quantity 
during the season. The average catch for each boat is about thirty 
" lasts " (three hundred thousand) ; but a boat has been known to 
bring in the enormous quantity of two hundred and sixty-four 
thousand herrings at one time. Like all fisheries, the result is very 
uncertain. "It is a curious and bountiful provision of nature," 
remarks Dr. Lankester, "that forces the herring, and other fish 
usually distributed through the deeps, to congregate together, and 
visit our shores in such immense abundance, at a time when they 
are in the highest perfection, and when most fitted for human 
food." 

The herring dies as soon as it leaves the water, hence the phrase 
" as dead as a herring." The fishes are therefore salted as soon 
as caught, and when the boat has reached land they are brought 
to shore, and carried to the fish-house in " swills," which are open 
coarse wicker baskets. Arrived at the fish " office," the herrings, 
after being sufficiently salted, remain on a floor for twenty -four 
hours if intended to be slightly cured, or for ten days if intended 
for the foreign market ; they are then washed in large vats filled 
with fresh water ; " spits " (pieces of wood about four feet long and 
of the thickness of a man's thumb) are passed through their heads 
or gills, and they are then hung up in rows to the top of the 
building. Wood fires are then kindled under them f and are con- 
tinued day and night, with slight intermissions to allow the fat and 
oil to drop, until the fish are sufficiently cured, which, if they are 
intended for the foreign market, is at the end of fourteen days, but 
if for home consumption, three or four days suffice. The first are 
called " red " herrings, from the deep colour which they acquire, 
and the others are known as "bloaters." When cured, the her- 
rings are taken down and placed in barrels, which contain each 
about seven hundred fish. From .thirty to forty thousand barrels 
are sent yearly from Yarmouth to the towns on the Mediterranean 
coasts. The annual supply of herrings at Billingsgate Market is 
estimated at one hundred and twenty thousand tons, valued at 
one million two hundred pounds sterling ! The greatest enemy to 
the herring fishermen is the dog-fish, which, in pursuit of the her- 



THE DOG-FISH AND THE HAKE. 287, 

ring, frequently becomes entangled in the nets, and does great 
damage to them in endeavouring to escape. 

The herring fisheries sometimes suffer very considerably from 
the ravages of this fish, the popular name of some of the smaller 
species of shark, owing this designation to their habit of follow- 
ing their prey like dogs hunting in packs. These predaceous fishes 
are seldom abundant when the herrings are in a compact body; 
but sometimes they commit great destruction when a shoal is first 
drawn in near land. They have been known to consume as many 
herrings as would fill a dozen barrels out of one boat's nets in the 
course of an hour. They are also very destructive to the nets 
when they get entangled, their hard fins tearing them to pieces. 
In like manner they make sad havoc with other fishes. Occasion- 
ally only a few escape with their heads, the tails of others are 
snapped off, and pieces bitten out of the belly. A cod-fish some- 
times comes up a mere skeleton, stripped to the bone on both 
sides. 

The Dog-fish attains a length of three or four feet, and is found 
in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the South seas. One of 
the most abundant species on our coasts is the common dog-fish, 
which sometimes appears in prodigious numbers, twenty thousand 
having been taken at Cornwall at one time in a net, and the fisher- 
men of the Orkneys and Hebrides, where they are much used for 
food, sometimes load their boats to the water's edge with them. 

Another voracious enemy of the herring (and the pilchard) is 
the Hake, a member of the Cod family, with the same predatory 
instincts. It is sometimes three or four feet in length, coarse in 
quality, but valuable as a " stock " fish. It is generally taken by 
lines, like cod and ling, but in the spawning season, when it keeps 
near the bottom, it is sometimes caught by trawl-nets. 

Allied to the herring, but differing in some respects, being 
nearly equal in size, but rather thicker, and the lines of the back 
and belly being straighter, the scales also being larger and fewer, 
is the Pilchard, a fish also of immense importance in our British 
fisheries, and plentiful on the coasts of Devonshire and Cornwall. 
These fish congregate in deep waters, within limits extending from 



288 THE ST. IVES PILCHARD FISHERY. 

the Stilly Isles, as far, sometimes, as the Irish, Welsh, and Cornish 
coasts. A portion strikes the land north of Cape Cornwall, and 
turns in a north-easterly direction towards St. Ives, constituting 
its summer fishery. The great bulk passes between the Stilly 
Islands and the mainland. To look from Cape Cornwall, or 
from any of the high lands of St. Just, and see this immense 
moving mass of fishes, extending as far as the eye can reach, ap- 
proaching the shores, and reddening the waters, is a sight of great 
interest and beauty, and such as would repay any exertion to wit- 
ness. 

The seine or net used in St. Ives Bay for capturing pilchards is 
nearly twelve hundred feet long, and nearly sixty feet in depth. 
More than two hundred and fifty of such nets are kept at St. Ives, 
each having its own boat to carry it. Every seine or net-boat, 
when its turn arrives, is attended by one or two tow-boats with 
stop-nets, and also by a smaller boat called the " follower," used 
principally for carrying the men to and from the larger boats. 
When the huers or sentinels stationed on the hills perceive a shoal 
of pilchards, they immediately signal to their respective boats, and 
by signs give the necessary directions for their capture. They are 
enabled to do this by observing on the water a reddish hue, like 
that of sea-weed (very different from their colour out of water), 
and the denser the shoal of fish, the deeper is this hue. As soon 
as the seine-boat and tow-boat are within reach of the shoal, they 
start for the same point in opposite directions, and are rowed 
rapidly round the fish, while the nets which they carry are being 
shot or cast into the sea. When the seine and the stop-net meet, 
they are immediately joined, and form a complete circular wall 
round the pilchards about eighteen hundred feet in circumference, 
and reaching from the surface to the bottom, the nets being kept 
in a vertical position by corks strung on their head-ropes and leads 
on their foot-ropes. This net-work enclosure, with all its contents, 
is then warped towards the shore into the securest part of the bay, 
out of the reach of the strong tidal current, and there moored with 
anchors so placed as to keep it as open or as nearly circular as 
possible. Within this large net a small one, called the tuck-net, 



curing the pilchard. 289 

is introduced at low water, so that the fish are raised to the surface, 
dipped up in baskets into the boats, taken to shore, and carried in 
barrows to be cured and salted. The St. Ives seine fishery does 
not differ materially from that in Mount's Bay, except that in the 
latter place, owing to the greater depth of water, the nets are about 
thirty feet deeper, and they are also longer. Besides the method 
of capturing pilchards with deep nets in shallow water in the day- 
time, there is a far more common mode in Cornwall of taking 
them in shallow nets, in deep water, by night. As these drift-nets 
are always spread in the open sea, where they might be destroyed 
by vessels sailing over them, their head-ropes are sunk about 
eighteen feet below the surface, and kept suspended at that depth 
by cork buoys fixed at regular intervals. By this contrivance, not 
only are the nets preserved, but larger quantities of fish are taken. 
These nets, each with a driving-boat attached, are left to go with 
the wind or tide all the time the net remains in the water. 

As soon as the pilchards caught by the seine or drift-nets are 
landed, some are sold in the neighbouring towns and villages, and 
the rest, when cured and placed in barrels, are exported to the 
Mediterranean, where, during Lent, they are much sought after. 

The method of curing the pilchards is very simple. They are 
placed in cellars, and women are employed in arranging them in 
layers, with salt between. After remaining in bulk about five 
weeks, during which oil and other matters drain from them, they 
are put into troughs of water, washed quite clean, and then care- 
fully laid in casks, where they are subjected to heavy pressure for 
about a week. The oil thus expressed flows out from holes at the 
bottom or crevices in the sides of the un tightened casks, and as 
this reduces their contents, more fish are added, until each cask, 
when the pressure is removed, weighs at least four hundredweight. 
The capital employed in the Cornish pilchard fishery amounts to 
at least two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and affords em- 
ployment to about ten thousand persons. 

The Sprat was formerly considered by naturalists to be the 
young of the herring, as well as that of the pilchard : it is now 
generally admitted to be a distinct species. This fish comes into 

10 



29o _ SPRATS, WHITEBAIT, AND SARDINES 

season in November, and continues so all the winter months, during 
which the sale, especially in London, is immense. About five 
hundred boats are annually employed in the sprat fishery. So 
great is the abundance sometimes, that thousands of tons are sold 
to farmers for manure. Most fish are caught on dark and foggy 
nights. 

The Whitebait, little fishes from three to six inches in length, 
the delicious flavour of which you may have often enjoyed, are 
caught by means of bag-nets, sunk four or five feet below the 
water. They are very abundant in many parts of the British 
coasts, particularly in the estuary of the Thames in spring and 
summer, when they arrive in shoals to deposit their spawn. For 
several months they continue to ascend the river with the flood 
tide, and descend with the ebb tide, not being able to live in fresh 
water. Greenwich and Blackwall are celebrated for whitebait 
dinners. It was formerly supposed that this fish was the young 
of the shad, or sprat, but is now regarded as a distinct species. 

The Sardine, a fish of the same genus with the herring and pil- 
chard, smaller than the latter, abounds in the Mediterranean, and 
is found also in the Atlantic Ocean. The sardines of the west 
coast of France, which are largely imported into our country, are 
generally young sprats, and sometimes young herrings. This 
" sardine" fishery is a great business in France, and especially at 
Concarneau, where as many as thirteen thousand men aid in the 
fishery. This is conducted in a way remarkable for the extrava- 
gance it involves. The sprat fisheries on the British coast — indeed, 
all our net fisheries — are carried on in the most primitive way ; but 
the French have made it a "bait " fishery, and use the roe of the ^ 
cod, which is brought at a considerable expense from the North 
seas for the purpose. The fish are gutted, beheaded, sorted into 
sizes, and washed in sea-water, then dried on nets or willows; 
they are then placed in a pan, kept over a furnace, and filled with 
boiling oil. The fish are plunged into the cauldron, two rows 
deep, arranged on wire gratings. They are afterwards placed to 
drip, the oil being carefully collected, after which they are packed 
it\ the tin boxes you have so often seen. It is said that, besides 



THE COD FISHERY. 291 

the quantity exported, as many as four millions are annually pre- 
pared for the home market. 

I need not enter into any particulars about the Cod fishery on the 
banks of Newfoundland, which presents nothing new or very inte- 
resting except in the value attached to every part of this valuable 
fish. The tongue of the cod, whether fresh or salted, is a great 
delicacy; the gills are used as baits in fishing; the liver, which is 
large and good for eating, also furnishes an enormous quantity of 
oil, now much esteemed for consumptive patients ; the swimming- 
bladder furnishes an isinglass; the head is eaten, and the Nor- 
wegians give it, with marine plants, to their cows, to produce a 
greater quantity of milk; the vertebrae, the ribs, and the bones are 
given by the Icelanders to their cattle ; even the intestines and 
eggs are eaten. The coast of Iceland abounds in fish, especially 
of the cod tribe, and this abundance has not only from a very early 
time supplied the inhabitants with their chief food, but enabled 
them to procure other necessaries. As the principal fishings begin 
on the Newfoundland coast, at the Feroe Islands, .in Norway, and 
in Iceland at the same time, it seems evident that the cod is not 
a migratory fish, but a dweller where it finds its food. The Ice- 
landers fish chiefly from open boats, and sometimes from decked 
ones. Only the largest boats, with six or twelve oars, are used in 
the cod fishery, and in these the natives often go out many miles 
to sea in the depth of winter to fish. They are a most hardy set 
of mariners. Their mode of capturing the cod is either by smaH 
drift-nets, deep-sea or hand lines, and the ordinary long line. The 
fish caught by the net are different from those taken by the line, 
being more plump, with smaller heads. The number of Iceland 
boats employed in the cod fisheries average nearly five thousand, 
and the number of persons employed exceeds ten thousand. 

" The modern cod-smack," says Mr. Bertram, " usually carries 
from nine to eleven men and boys, including the captain. The 
line is chiefly used for the purpose of taking cod or haddock. Each 
man has a line of three hundred feet in length, and attached to 
each of these lines are one hundred ' snoods,' with hooks already 
baited with mussels, pieces of herring, or whiting. Each line is 

19—2 



2$2 IMMENSE CONSUMPTION OF COD IN LONDON. 

laid ' clear' in a shallow basket or ' skull;' that is, it is so arranged ( 
as to run freely as the boat shoots ahead. The three hundred feet 
line, with one hundred hooks, is called in Scotland a ' taes.' If 
there are eight men in a boat, the length of the line will be two 
thousand four hundred feet, with eight hundred hooks (the lines 
being tied to each other before setting). On arriving at the fish- 
ing-ground, the fishermen heave overboard a cork buoy with a flag- 
staff affixed to it, about six feet in height. The buoy is kept fixed 
by a line reaching to the bottom of the water, and having a stone 
or small anchor fastened to the lower end. To this line, called 
the 'pow-end,' is also fastened the fishing-line, which is then 
paid ' out as fast as the boat sails. Should the wind be unfavour- 
able, the oars are used. When the line is all out the end is dropped, 
and the boat returns to the buoy. The pow-end is hauled up, with 
the anchor and fishing-line attached to it. The fishermen then 
haul in the line with whatever fish may be on it. Eight hundred 
fish might be taken (and often have been) by eight men in a few 
hours by this operation. Many a time the fish are eaten off the 
line by the ' dog ' (dog-fish) and other enemies, so that a few frag- 
ments and a skeleton or two remain to show that fish have been 
caught. The fishermen of e deck-welled cod-bangers ? use both 
hand-lines and long lines. The cod-bangers' tackling is, of course, 
stronger than that used in open boats. The long lines are called 
'grut lines' or great lines. Every deck-welled cod-banger carries 
a small boat on deck, for working the great lines in moderate 
weather. This boat is also provided with a well, in which the 
fish are kept alive till they arrive at the banger, when they are 
transferred from the small boat's well to that of the larger vessel." 
London alone requires an annual supply of five hundred thousand 
cod-fish, which is one of the best fish our seas afford. The London 
market was formerly supplied with cod from the " Doggerbank," 
an extensive flat sandbank in the middle of the German Ocean, 
between England and Denmark ; but of late years the fish have 
increased on our own coasts to such an extent that London is 
now almost entirely supplied from the coasts of Lincolnshire and 
Norfolk. 



THE HADDOCK, THE COAL-FISH, AND THE LING. 293 

The Haddock, which has a striking family resemblance to the cod, 
is taken both by trawl-nets and lines, and being in great esteem by 
fish-eaters for the excellence of its flavour, we ought to be pleased 
that the fish is so partial to our own coasts, where it appears in 
vast shoals at particular seasons. Fishermen sometimes find had- 
docks and other fishes caught in their lines reduced to mere skin 
and skeleton by the Hag, one of the species allied to the Lamprey 
family, resembling an eel or worm, and a perfect anatomist in its 
way. It is believed to enter by the mouth of the haddock, and 
thus prey upon it : the fish thus treated is called a ' robbed ' fish. 
As many as six hags have been taken out of a single haddock, and 
they are also said to make their way into fishes through the skin, 
and are hence sometimes called " borers." It is supposed, how- 
ever, that the hags are swallowed by fishes, and, in retaliation, 
work out their insides. 

The Coal-fish — a relative of the cod, with a very vulgar name, 
derived from its black coat, but a fish of really handsome form, 
and about two or three feet in length — takes a bait with extra- 
ordinary eagerness : when a boat falls in with a shoal, they may 
be kept beside it by being thus attracted till the whole are cap- 
tured. It is abundant in all Northern seas, and is taken on the 
British coasts. In many parts of Scotland they are well known 
to juvenile anglers, who take them in plenty from the end of 
piers, often with a rude tackle and almost any kind of bait. In 
the winter-time (according to Mr. Low), while the fry of this fish 
is in the harbour of Orkney, it is common to see ^nq or six hun- 
dred people, of all ages, fishing for them with small angling-rods 
about six feet long, and a line a little longer ; but with this simple 
apparatus they kill vast numbers. The whole harbour is covered 
with boats. 

Other members of the cod family are caught much in the same 
manner as their representative, and are very valuable as food, 
especially the Ling, which is found abundantly on our own coasts. 
The sounds (air-bladders) are pickled, and the roes are preserved 
in brine, and eaten as food, or used as a means of attracting fish 
by throwing it about the nets, as is often done by French fisher. 



294 THE TURBO T AND THE BRILL. . 

men. The Common Hake, a fish sometimes measuring three feet, 
is also plentiful on the English and Irish coasts, and very vora- 
cious. When enclosed in a net with pilchards— as frequently 
happens on the Cornish coast — it gorges itself with them : Mr. 
Couch has seen seventeen pilchards taken from the stomach of 
a hake of ordinary size. It is to this species, and the common 
cod when dried and salted for exportation, to which the name of 
" stock " fish is usually applied. Forty thousand hakes have been 
landed on the shores of Mount's Bay in Cornwall in a single day, 
and the quantity captured on the Irish coast is immense. Galway 
Bay is sometimes called the " Bay of Hakes " from the numbers 
of that fish taken. 

The Turbot, an especial delight of fish epicures in all times, is 
taken, with other flat fish, by lines and hooks, the fishermen going 
out in parties of three to a " coble," each man carrying his long 
line, the united ends of which are a league in length, and draw 
after them fifteen hundred baited hooks ; these lines, as they are 
to lie across the current, can only be shot twice in twenty-four 
hours, when the rush of the water slackens as the tide is about to 
change. The Italians christen the turbot the " sea-pheasant," 
from its flavour. The Romans were particularly fond of this dainty, 
and frequent allusion to its size occur in their writers ; thus ; 

"Great turbots and late suppers lead 
To debt, disgrace, and abject need." 

" The border of the broadest dish 
Lay hid beneath the monster fish. ,> 

But the size mentioned by the ancient writers is of a fabulous cha- 
racter. However, it sometimes attains a weight of between seventy 
and ninety pounds. It is now chiefly obtained by beam-trawling, 
a triangular purse-shaped net about seventy feet long, usually 
having a breadth of about forty feet at the mouth, and gradually 
diminishing to the end of the net, which is about ten feet long, 
and of nearly uniform breadth. The turbot is of all the flat fishes 
the most valuable. The Brill belongs to the same tribe, as well as 
other less important fishes. The turbot is shorter, broader, and deeper 



CAPTURING THE TURTLE. 295 

than almost any other kind of flat fish. It generally keeps close to' 
the bottom of the sea, and is found chiefly on banks where there 
is a considerable depth of water. Some of the banks in the Ger- 
man Ocean abound in turbots, as the Doggerbank, and yield great 
quantities to the London market. 

Of Soles r the annual London consumption is estimated at one 
hundred millions, which are taken exclusively by the trawl, for by 
no other mode of capture could a thousandth part of the supply 
be obtained. 

In proportion to the benefits derived from the spoils of the Turtle, 
the shell of which is so ornamental and useful in the arts, the in- 
genuity of man has been sharpened by his eagerness to acquire 
them. The modes by which the people of Celebes take them are 
by the harpoon and net, or by falling on the females when the} 
resort to the strand to lay their eggs. The turtle is turned on its 
back, when, unable to turn again, it lies helpless. It sometimes also 
falls into the hands of the dwellers on the coast through means of 
their fishing-stakes, into which it enters like the fish, and from 
which it can find no outlet. It is then killed and robbed of its 
upper shield; but, as the shells adhere fast to each other, and 
would be injured by being torn off, the usual plan is to wait a few 
days, by which time the soft parts become decomposed, and the 
shells are removed with little trouble. When the turtles lie floating 
on the sea either for the purpose of sleep or respiration, the fisher- 
men approach them quietly with a sharp harpoon, carrying a ring 
at the butt-end, to which a cord is attached. The harpooner strikes, 
and the wounded animal dives, but is at last secured by the cord. 
In the South Seas, skilful divers watch them when so floating, and 
getting under the animals, suddenly rise, and so seize them. Mr. 
Darwin describes a curious method of capturing turtles which he 
witnessed at Keeling Island in 1836 : 

" I accompanied," he remarks, u Captain Fitzroy to an island at 
the head of the lagoon : the channel was exceedingly intricate, 
winding through fields of delicately-branched corals. We saw 
several turtles, and two boats were then employed in catching 
them. The water is so clear and shallow, that although at first a 



296 SINGULAR METHODS OF CHINESE FISHERMEN. 

turtle quickly dives out of sight, yet, in a canoe or boat under sail, 
the pursuers, after no very long chase, come up to it. A man stand- 
ing ready in the bows at this moment dashes through the water 
upon the turtle's back ; then clinging with both hands by the shell 
of the neck, he is carried away until the animal becomes exhausted, 
and is secured. It was quite an interesting sight to see the two 
boats thus doubling about, and the men dashing into the water to 
secure their prey." 

But the most singular mode of capturing turtles is that practised 
on the coasts of China and the Mozambique, by the aid of living 
fishes trained for the purpose, and thence named " fisher-fishes." 
The fish is a species of remora (sucking-fish), and the islanders who 
use it are said to proceed in the following manner : 

They have, in their little boat, tubs containing many of these 
fishes, the top of whose head is covered with an oval plate, soft 
and fleshy at its circumference. In the middle of this plate is a 
very complicated apparatus of bony pieces disposed across in two 
regular rows, like the laths of Persienne blinds. The number of these 
plates varies from fifteen to thirty-six, according to the species : they 
can be moved on their axis by means of particular muscles, and 
their -free edges are furnished with small hooks, which are all raised 
at once like the points of a wool-card. The tail of each of the 
trained fishes in the tubs is furnished with a ring for the attachment 
of a fine but long and strong cord. When the fishermen perceive 
the basking turtles on the surface of the sea, knowing that the 
slightest noise would disturb the intended victims, they slip over- 
board one of their fish tied to the long cord, and pay out line 
according to their distance from the turtles. As soon as the fish 
perceives the floating reptile, he makes towards it, and fixes himself 
so firmly to it that the fishermen pull both fish and turtle into the 
boat, where the fish is very easily detached from its prey, and the 
turtle is secured. 

Crabs, which belong to the highest order of Crustaceans (from 
the Latin crusta, " a hard covering "), are taken by traps — baskets 
which readily permit an entrance, but not their escape, and which 
are baited with meat or animal garbage of some kind — or pots, or 



THE HERMIT CRAB. 297 

caught in the holes of the rocks at low tide with a rod and hook. 
You are no doubt well aware of the pugnacious instincts of these 
animals, which require very careful handling when found on the 
rocks or the sea- shore. Their fighting propensities are not con- 
fined to other prey, but they have fierce encounters among them- 
selves, by means of their formidable claws, with which they lay 
hold of their adversary's legs, and dexterously amputate them. 

The Hermit Crab is one of the most curious of this numerous 
family. A more daring little burglar could not be found than this 
animal, appropriating to its own use the shells of whelks and peri- 
winkles, after basely dislodging and killing their lawful owners. 
It is curious to see this crab busily parading the sea-shore, dragging 
its old incommodious habitation behind it, unwilling to part with 
it until another and more convenient one is found. It stops first 
at one shell, turns it, passes by, then goes to another, looks at it 
attentively for a time, and then tries it. Not being found suitable, 
it resumes the old one, and in this manner frequently changes, 
until at length it finds one light, roomy, and commodious; into 
this it enters and takes up its abode. Frequently two of them 
will have a severe contest for possession, and a fierce fight ensues. 
With such very bad instincts and unscrupulous habits, it is not 
surprising that the hermit-crab should be a very suspicious animal. 
On the slightest alarm it retires into its shell, guarding the entrance 
to it with its largest claw. The structure of the animal renders it 
equal to most emergencies. The part which in the lobster be- 
comes a fan-like expansion at the end of the tail, is an appendage 
to the hermit crab for firmly holding on by the shell, and so tena- 
cious is the hold that it may be torn to pieces, but cannot be 
pulled out. As they increase in size, the hermit crabs are com- 
pelled to enter on a fresh career of crime. The ancients were 
well acquainted with the predaceous habits of this little marauder. 
Oppian writes : 

" The hermit-fish, unarm'd by nature, left 
Helpless and weak, grow strong by harmless theft ; 
Fearless they stroll, and look with panting wish 
For the cast crust of some new-covered fish, 
Or such as empty lie, and deck the shore, 



298 KING CRABS AND "PILL-MAKER" CRABS. 

Whose first and rightful owners are no more. 

They make glad seizure of the vacant room, 

And count the borrow'd shell their native home ; 

Screw their soft limbs to fit the winding case, 

And boldly herd with the crustaceous race. 

Careless they enter the first empty cell ; 

Oft find the plaited whelk's indented shell ; 

And oft the deep-dy'd purple, forc'd by death 

To stranger fish the painted home bequeath. 

The whelk's etch'd coat is most with pleasure worn, 

Wide in extent, and yet but lightly borne. 

But when they, growing, more than fill the place, 

And find themselves hard pinch'd in scanty space, 

Compelled, they quit the roof they lov'd before, 

And busy search around the pebbly shore, 

Till a commodious roomy seat be found, 

Such as the larger shell-fish, living, own'd. 

Oft cruel wars contending hermits wage, 

And long for the disputed shell engage ; 

The strongest here the doubtful prize possess, — 

Power gives the right, and all the claim confess. " 

Crabs are inhabitants [of almost all seas. The different kinds 
vary much in the form of the carapace, or back, which in some is 
round, or nearly so ; in others longer than broad ; in some pro- 
longed in front into a kind of beak, &c. ; also in smoothness or 
roughness, with hairs, excrescences, or spines; in the length of the 
legs, &c. The King Crab, an inhabitant of tropical seas, is a re- 
markable species, having a tail which forms a long and powerful 
dagger-like spine, sometimes exceeding in length the whole body. 
Some of these crabs exceed two feet in length, and in the Asiatic 
islands the spine is often used for pointing arrows; in tropical 
America the shell is used as a ladle. At Labuan and Singapore 
Dr. Collingwood met with a new species of crab, the " Pill-maker" 
It is a small creature of its kind, many being the size of large peas. 
Its habit is to take up particles of sand in its claws, deposit them 
in a groove beneath the thorax, and afterwards eject 'them as pellets 
or pills from its mouth, after having extracted what nutriment they 
may contain. 

The crab (as also the prawn) may be quoted as exercising the 



PRAWNS AND SHRIMPS. 299 

virtue of conjugal affection to the highest degree, for the male takes 
hold of his mate, and never quits her side, swimming with her, 
crawling about with her; and if she is forcibly taken away, the 
faithful animal will seize hold of and endeavour to retain her. 

Mr. Gosse mentions a curious example of instinctive stratagem 
in a crab on the shores of the Pacific, about six inches in circum- 
ference, which covers itself with decaying vegetable rubbish, mud, 1 
sand, &c., and thus lies in ambush for its passing prey. It main- 
tains a sluggish character until taken into the hand, or otherwise 
alarmed, when it becomes very active. The spines upon its body 
to retain the rubbish, the short but strong claws easily concealed, 
the eyes placed at the end of long footstalks, curving upwards and 
thus raised above the mass, show the beautiful adaptation of its 
structure to its habits. 

Prawns in general form resemble lobsters, cray-fish, and shrimps, 
but belong to a family remarkable for a long saw-like beak project- 
ing from the carapace or back. There are many species, and some 
of those inhabiting the warm seas attain a large size. Many of them 
are semi-transparent, and have very fine colours. The common 
prawn, which forms so great a luxury to our breakfast-table, is from 
three to four inches in length, is generally taken in the vicinity of 
rocks at a little distance from the shore, and osier baskets — similar 
to those employed for catching lobsters— are employed for their 
capture, and nets. 

Shrimps, as you no doubt well know, are generally taken by 
nets in the form of a wide-mouthed bag, stretched by means of a 
short cross-beam at the end of a pole, and pushed along by the 
shrimper, wading up to the knees in water. Sometimes a net of 
larger size is dragged along by two boats. The common shrimp is 
about two inches long, and the short beak readily distinguishes it 
from the prawn. When alarmed, it buries itself in the sand by a 
peculiar movement of its fan-like tail. 

Dr. Collingwood mentions a new species of shrimp, which he 
discovered in the warm seas, of a deep violet colour (those on our 
own coasts are of a greenish-grey colour, dotted with brown), and 
with a claw of remarkable construction. 



300 PERIWINKLES AND MUSSELS. 

" I placed it," he says, " in a basin of water with a small crab, 
whose appearance appeared violently to offend it. Whenever the 
crab came in contact with the shrimp, the latter produced a loud 
sound, the explanation of which is as follows: the shrimp possessed 
two claws — one large and stout, and the other long and slender, 
When irritated, it opened the pincers of the large claw very wide, 
and then suddenly closed them with a startling jerk. When the 
claw was in contact with the bottom of the basin, a sound was 
produced as if the basin were struck; but when the claw was 
elevated in the water, the sound was like the snap of a finger, and 
the water was splashed in my face." 

Dr. Collingwood called this animal the " trigger " shrimp, from 
the action of this claw resembling that of a pistol trigger. If only 
put upon half-cock, this trigger closed without noise. 

How wonderful are the means that the Omnipotent Creator 
has provided (as in all things) for the protection of the shelly in- 
habitants ! The hard covering accommodates itself to their growth, 
and at the. same time is sufficiently light as not to interfere with 
the movements and functions of the interesting tenant. All the 
various tribes of shell-bearing animals are thus defended from 
the injuries and attacks to which their situation exposes them. 
Thus, some are protected by multivalve, or more than two formed 
tubular shells, the tenant protruding its organs at the summit, which 
is defended by the lid, consisting of more than a single piece ; in 
the univalve, or one shell, the animal protrudes itself at the sides, 
and has no valve, as in the common barnacle. The bivalves, or 
animals of two shells, bury themselves in the sand, perforate rocks, 
or suspend themselves by the byssus, or thready filaments ; others, 
again, as the oyster, fix themselves to any convenient substance. 

In the common Periwinkle (a molluscous, or soft-shelled animal), 
the mouth of its shell, as you are, no doubt, quite aware, is closed by 
a horny covering ; this is called the " patch," which is attached to 
the foot, or rather neck, by its convex or lower surface : this is the 
lid, as you must have remarked. 

You all know the Mussel, belonging to the molluscous animals, 
and the common species of which are very abundant on our own 



A WONDERFUL "MUSSEL FAR Mr 301 

coasts, and are much used as bait by fishermen. As an article of 
food it is much consumed in our own country, but especially so on 
the Continent. The French people are remarkably clever in their 
method of cultivating this shell-fish by artificial means. About 
four miles from Rochelle there may be seen a wonderful mussel 
"farm," which has been a source of considerable profit for hundreds 
of years. The mussels are grown on frames of basket-work carefully 
made, and are larger and of finer flavour than the natural fish. 
I will tell you how this ingenious plan originated. The particulars 
are related in a pamphlet published at La Rochelle in 1847. I* 1 
the year 1035, an Irish bark loaded with sheep was thrown in a 
heavy storm on the rocks near Esnande, on the coasts of Saintonge, 
and the only person on board who was saved was the captain, 
named Walton, who amply repaid the services which had been 
rendered him, for, having saved some of the sheep from the wreck, 
he crossed them with the animals of the country, and thus pro- 
duced a fine race, which is still known under the name of the 
"marsh sheep." He next devised a kind of net, which was stretched 
a little above the level of the open sea, where it caught large flocks 
of shore-birds which skim the surface of the water at twilight or 
after dark. In order to render these nets thoroughly effective, it 
was necessary to go to the very centre of the immense bed of 
mud where these birds seek their nourishment. Walton discovered 
on examining the poles which supported his nets, that they were 
covered with mussel-spawn. He then increased the number of the 
poles, and, after various attempts, constructed his first artificial 
mussel-bed, or bouchot, as it is termed. At the level of the lowest 
tides, he drove into the mud stakes th it were strong enough to 
resist the force of the waves, and placec them in two rows about 
a yard distant from one another. This double line of poles formed 
an angle whose base was directed towards the shore and whose 
apex pointed to the open sea. This palisade was roughly fenced 
I in with long branches, and a narrow opening having been left at 
', the extremity of the angle, wicker-work cases were arranged in 
such a manner as to stop any fishes that were being carried back 
by the retreating tide. Walton had thus combined in one a sort 



$02 GREAT UTILITY OF THE MUSSEL. 

of fish preserve, with a bed for the breeding of mussels. The 
plan soon became very popular, and the beds were extended in. 
every direction. 

The little mussels that appear in the spring are called seeds, and 
are scarcely larger than small beans till towards the end of May;<i 
but at this time they rapidly increase, and in July they attain' the 
size of a full-grown bean. They are then fit for transplanting, and ^ 
are placed in bags, made of old nets, which are set upon the fences 
that are not quite so far advanced into the sea. The young mus- 
sels spread themselves all round the bags, fixing themselves by 
means of those silky filaments or threads, called byssus, which 
you have no doubt noticed, and by which the little animals attach * 
themselves to rocks or other substances. In proportion as they * 
grow or become crowded together within the bags, they are cleared 
out and distributed over other poles lying somewhat nearer the 
shore, whilst the full-grown mussels, which are fit for sale, are 
planted on the beds nearest the shore. It is from this part of the 
mussel-beds that the fishermen reap their harvests, and every day 
enormous quantities of freshly-gathered mussels are transported in 
carts or on the backs of horses to La Rochelle, whence they are 
sent to all parts of France. 

As an instance of utility, the common mussel maintains the long * 
bridge across the Torridge river, near its junction with the Tav/, 
at the town of Bideford in North Devon. At this bridge the tide 
runs so rapidly that it cannot be kept with mortar. The corpora- 
tion therefore keep boats employed to bring mussels to it, and the 
interstices of the bridge are kept filled with them. The bridge is 
supported against the violence of the tide by the strong threads of *-. 
the byssus which these mussels fix to the stonework. 

While on this subject I may allude to oyster farming, which is 
also carried on extensively in France, and is a thriving business in 
our own country. There is a very great demand for oysters, on 
the Continent especially; and as the fish may be kept out of water 
for a few days without any harm, or can be kept in tanks, and be 
artificially fed until such time as it is wanted for the table, a large 
number of fishermen have of tate years taken to the rearing and 



OYSTER CULTURE. 303 

fattening of oysters. There are few places now on the shores of 
France where oyster culture is not carried on in some one of its 
various methods : there are places for keeping them alive until 
wanted, pares for breeding them in, places for fattening them, or 
pits for greening them. The difference between English and French 
oyster farming is not great, but the little that there is is of great 
importance to the economy of a large oyster farm. The new oyster 
farms which have been laid down in England of late years are all 
upon the French plan, and are very successful. An immense oyster 
business is done in France, Paris alone requiring a daily supply 
that in the course of the season is said to amount to one hundred 
millions, and the large provincial towns all consume in proportion. 
Countless numbers are, besides, exported cured, prepared, and 
pickled. A little branch taken from the oyster-beds contains several 
thousands, and common tiles placed in the pares are covered with 
hundreds of them. The He de Re is one of the most famous 
oyster-rearing places, and here may be seen a few thousand oyster- 
pares, and also a few hundred fattening-ponds, and hundreds of 
thousands of oysters in all states of growth, from the size of a pin's 
head to a crown piece. The South of England Oyster Company 
have breeding-grounds close to the village of Havant, on the north- 
west shore of Hay ling Island. At the opposite extremity of this, 
at the entrance of Chichester Harbour, the first great experiment 
in oyster culture was made, and with favourable results, the supply 
of spat or seed in their breeding-beds having been almost unlimited. 
The oysters are laid down on shingles, and hurdles placed over 
them. The sides of the hurdles are soon covered with young 
oy sterlings, the largest of which are about the size of a sixpence, 
the smallest the size of a pin-head, and the greater number exceed 
a silver fourpenny piece. 

Most oysters cast their spawn towards the close of the spring or 
in the beginning of the summer, as in the month of May. The 
spawn is by the fishermen called " spat," and in size and figure each 
resembles the drop of a candle. As soon as cast, or thrown off, 
these embryo disks adhere to stones, old oyster-shells, pieces of 
wood, or whatever substance comes in their way ; a limy secretion 



304 ENEMIES OF SHELL-FISH. 

issues from the surface of their bodies, and in the course of twenty- 
four hours, begins to be converted into a shelly substance. It is 
two or three years, however, before oysters acquire their full size ; in 
fact, the oyster is said not fit to be eaten until five or six years old. 
• The Scallops, which are a tribe belonging to the oyster, possess 
the power of leaping out of the water at pleasure to the distance of 
half a yard: when elevated they open their shells, and eject the 
water within them, and then falling back into the water, close them 
with a loud snap. 

The gigantic Clama, or clam-shell, resembles the oyster. One 
species found in the Indian Ocean has been found weighing be- 
tween five and six hundred pounds. i 

The enemies of the oyster are many. The sea-crab seats itself 
upon the shell, and drills a little hole in his back, and so kills him. 
On the sea-shore bushels of shells are found quite riddled with 
holes by this crab. The star-fish was known in ancient times to 
prey upon the oyster. Oppian says : 

"The prickly star-fish creeps on with fell deceit, 
To force the oyster from his close retreat. 
"When gaping lids their widen'd void display, 
The watchful star thrusts in a pointed ray 
Of all its treasures spoils the rifled case, 
And empty shells the sandy hillocks grace." 

The drum-fish — in weight about thirty pounds, and about two 
feet long — swallows oyster and shell ; sometimes two or three 
pounds of shells are found in the stomach of this fish. The star- 
fishes hug the oyster, and wrap their five rays about him, but the 
embrace is one of death to the poor victim. 

It is not surprising that the inhabitants of the ocean should feed 
partly on shell-fish ; but it is curious to find animals strictly terres- 
trial preying upon them. Monkeys are said to descend to the sea 
to devour what shell-fish they may find on the shore. The ourang- 
outangs, according to Gernelli, feed in particular on a large species 
of oyster; and, fearful of inserting their paws between the open 
valves lest the animal should close and crush them, they first place 
a tolerably large stone in the shell, and then drag out their victim 



ENORMOUS CONSUMPTION OF OYSTERS. 305 

with safety. Monkeys are no less ingenious. Dampier saw several 
% of them take up oysters from the beach, lay them on a stone, and 
beat them with another until they had demolished the shells. Even 
the fox, when pressed by hunger,, will eat mussels and other bi- 
valves ; and the raccoon when near the shore lives much on them, 
particularly on oysters. 

A curious anecdote appeared in " Bell's Weekly Messenger," of 
7th January, 182 1. A tradesman at Plymouth, having placed some 
oysters in a cupboard, was surprised on finding in the morning a 
mouse caught by the tail by the sudden snapping of the shell. At 
Ashburton, a Mrs. Allridge had placed a dish of Wembury oysters 
in a cellar. A large oyster soon expanded its shell, and at the 
instant two mice pounced upon the ■" living luxury/' and were at 
once crushed between the valves. The oyster, with the two mice 
dangling from its shell, was for some time exhibited as a curiosity. 
A better natural mouse-trap could not be imagined. Carew, in 
his " History of Cornwall," tells of an oyster that closed on three 
mice. 

Among birds the molluscs have many enemies. Several of the 
duck and gull tribes derive a portion of their subsistence from them. 
The pied oyster- catcher derives its name from this habit Several 
kinds of crows likewise feed upon shell-fish. Vultures and aquatic 
birds detach shell-fish from the rocks, 

I may add, that although the consumption of oysters in England 
is not so great as in France, as already mentioned, from thirty to 
forty thousand bushels of "natives," as those raised in artificial 
beds are called, are consumed annually in London alone ; and, in 
addition to these, fully one hundred and twenty thousand bushels 
of sea-oysters are also sold there. 

The Lobsters (which belong to the Crustacea or hard-shelled 
animals), the common species of which is so plentiful on the rocky 
coasts of our own country, and most parts of Europe, are gene- 
rally, as I have stated, taken in traps, sometimes made of osier twigs, 
also by nets, sometimes pots, always baited with animal garbage, 
and in some countries by torchlight, with the aid of a wooden in- 
strument which acts like a forceps or a pair of tongs. They are 

20 



306 PECULIARITIES 01 THE LOBSTER. 

also taken by the hand, but this requires dexterity, for the claws 
are powerful weapons of defence : one is always larger than the 
other, and the pincers of one claw are knobbed on the inner edge, ' 
those of the other are serrated. It is more dangerous to be seized 
by the serrated ("like the teeth of a saw") than by the knobbed 
claw. A great authority on fish matters, Mr. Bertram, says : 

" I once heard a clergyman at a lecture describe a lobster as a 
standing romance of the sea ; an animal whose clothing is a shell, 
which it casts away once a year, in order that it may put on a 
larger suit ; an animal whose flesh is in its tail and legs, and whose 
hair is in the inside of its breast; whose stomach is in its head, 
and which is changed every year for a new one, and which new 
one begins its life by devouring the old. An animal which carries 
its eggs within its body, until they become fruitful, and then carries 
them outwardly under its tail ; an animal which can throw off its 
legs when they become troublesome, and can in a brief time re- 
place them. Lastly, an animal with very sharp eyes placed in 
movable horns." 

The London market alone requires two millions and a half of 
crabs and lobsters annually. Large numbers are sent from the 
Scottish coasts. The west and north-west coasts of Ireland abound 
with fine lobsters, and welled vessels bring from them supplies for 
the London market of ten thousand weekly. A large number of 
lobsters is brought from Norway, as many as thirty thousand arriv- 
ing from that country in a single day, conveyed in wells on board 
steam vessels, and kept in wooden reservoirs, some of which may 
be seen on the Essex side of the Thames. In order that the great 
mass of lobsters may be kept on their best behaviour in these reser- 
voirs, the great claw is rendered paralytic by means of a wooder* 
peg driven into a lower joint : however cruel this may seem, it 
prevents them from tearing each other to pieces, so pugnacious 
are the animals. A good-sized lobster, we are informed by Mr. 
Bertram, will yield about twenty thousand eggs; and these are 
hatched (being so nearly ripe before they are abandoned by the 
mother) with great rapidity, it is said in forty-eight hours, and grow 
quickly, although the young lobster passes through many changes 



VORACITY AND PUGNACITY OF LOBSTERS. 307 

before it is fit to be presented at table. During the early period 
of growth it casts its shell frequently. This wonderful provision 
for an increase of size in the lobster is, observes Mr. Couch, 
perfectly surprising. It is indeed astonishing to see the complete 
covering of the animal cast off like a suit of old clothes, when it 
hides, naked and soft, in a convenient hole, awaiting the growth 
of its new crust or coat. Lobsters and crabs change their shell 
about every six weeks during the first year of their age ; every two 
months during the second year; and afterwards the changing of 
the shell becomes less frequent, being reduced to four times a year. 
Previously to putting off their old shell they appear sick, languid, 
and restless. They acquire an entirely new covering in a few days ; 
but during the time they remain defenceless they seek some lonely 
place, lest they should be attacked and devoured by such of their 
brethren as are not in the same weak condition. In casting their 
shells, it is difficult to conceive how the lobsters are able to draw 
the flesh of their large claws out, leaving the shells of these entire 
and attached to the shell of the body. The fishermen say that 
previous to this operation the lobster pines away till the flesh in 
its claw is no thicker than the quill of a goose, which enables it 
to draw its parts through the joints and narrow passage near the 
trunk. The new shell' hardens by degrees. 

It is supposed that the lobster becomes reproductive at the age 
of five years. . Lobsters are very voracious ; they are also full of 
fighting propensities, and have frequent combats among themselves, 
in which limbs are often lost ; but the limb is soon replaced by the 
growth of a new one, rather smaller than the old one. In the water 
lobsters can run nimbly on their legs or small claws, and if alarmed, 
can spring tail foremost to a surprising distance as swift as a bird 
can fly. Fishermen can see them pass about thirty feet, and, by 
the swiftness of their motion, suppose they may go much farther. 
When frightened, they will spring from a considerable distance to 
their hold in the rocks, and will force their way into an entrance 
barely sufficient for their bodies to pass. 

Like some of the crabs, lobsters are said to be attached to par- 
ticular parts of the sea. 

20— % 



3o8 SINGULAR PRACTICES IN FISHING. 

" In shelly armour wrapt, the lobsters seek 
Safe shelter in some bay or winding creek ; 
To rocky chasms the dusky natives cleave, 
Tenacious hold, nor will the dwelling leave. 
Nought like their home the constant lobsters prize, 
And foreign shores and seas unknown despise. 
Though cruel hands the banished wretch expel, 
And force the captive from his native cell, 
He will, if freed, return with anxious care, 
Find the known rock, and to his home repair. w 

In some parts of the Continent the fishermen endeavour, by 
making violent noises, to drive the fish into their nets ; but these 
are so cunning, that when surrounded by the net, the whole shoal 
will sometimes escape, for if one of them springs over it, the rest 
will follow like sheep. This circumstance was noticed by Oppian 
(a Greek poet, born in Cilicia about the year 200) : 

u The mullet, when encircling seines enclose, 
The fatal threads and treacherous bottom knows : 
Instant he rallies all his vigorous powers, 
And faithful aid of every nerve implores ; 
O'er battlements of cork up-darted flies, 
And finds from air th' escape that sea denies," 

The Danish fishermen have a similar mode of taking the horn- 
fishes, called " green-bone " from the colour of their bones. They 
are timid, and afraid of the nets, and when the shoals approach, 
the fishermen commence a regular bombardment with stones, and 
so frighten them into their meshes. 

A writer in " Notes and Queries " mentions a similar practice in 
Wales. 

"The fishermen," he observes, "commenced their operations 
at every ebbing of the tide, by stretching a seine across the river, 
several hundred paces above the coast; and whilst drawing it 
towards the sea, they incessantly disturbed the water by beating 
the surface, as well as hurling into it the heaviest stones they could 
poise. The affrighted fish made at once for the sea, which, how- 
ever, they could not reach except by passing through the inter- 



DOGS TRAINED FOR FISHING. 



309 



vening shallows. Here they were pursued by dogs trained for the 
purpose, and clubbed or speared by the men. I have frequently 
seen from one to two hundred fine fish, weighing from ten to 
twenty pounds each, taken in this extraordinary way." 



\ 





CHAPTER XXV. 

ODDS AND ENDS ABOUT FISHES. 

1 Flat-fish, with eyes distorted, square, ovoid, rhomboid, long ; 
Some cased in mail, some slippery-back'd, the feeble and the strong; 
Soft-finn'd, and armed with weapons to poison, stab, or maul ; 
Their baby-brood who educate to drum, shrill, grunt, and call ; 
Who build at sea, who bed on shore, who ox-like chew the cud, 
Who crest the waves with liquid light, or ink the sable flood, 
Who numb the boatman's sinewy arm — on azure wings who soar; 
Pelagians from the open sea, and tribes that hug the shore ; 
Sedan'd oh poles, or dragg'd on hooks, or poured from tubs like water, 
Gasp side by side, together piled in one promiscuous slaughter. " 

The Fish-i?iarket at Naples. — Badham. 




HE description I have quoted (so ingeniously presented by 
the Rev. Mr. Badham) of fishes inhabiting the Mediterra- 
nean Sea, corresponds entirely with the strange and varied 
character ascribed to them by ancient and modern writers. I will, 
however, before alluding to any particular species of fishes, give a 
brief outline of their nature generally. From the earliest ages fishes 
were most extensively used as articles of diet, and at the present 
time they form a considerable portion of the food of mankind gene- 
rally. In some countries they were the only money of commerce, 
and dried fish were paid as current coin. Mythological honours 
were rendered to them by the ancients ; and in the case of sharks, 
as 1 have mentioned in the chapter on "The Pirates of the Ocean/' 
they are deified on the African coasts. Fish have been perpetuated 
in coins and sculptures, from which many of the species in ancient 
use can still be traced. 



VARIETY OF FORM IN FISHES. 311 

Fishes people the ocean with their shoals, and serve to keep in 
check the innumerable creatures of still lower construction, while 
they themselves are held in check, and afford sustenance to millions 
which have been placed in our system above them. In form they 
are the most varied beings in creation, and the most inventive fancy 
could scarcely imagine a shape or appearance to which a resem- 
blance would not be found. They are of hideous or loathsome 
bulk or the most graceful form, and of gorgeous and resplendent 
colours ; all wondrously adapted to the different modes of obtain- 
ing their food, whether by stealth or deceit, strength or swiftness. 
The general form of a fish is admirably adapted to its native ele- 
ment. In all fishes which require swiftness to secure their prey, 
the tail is the great organ of motion. The absence of any neck 
gives the advantage of a more extensive and resisting attachment 
of the head to the body, the greater proportion of which is left 
free for the play of the muscular masses which move the tail. In 
the chapter on the " Monarchs of the Ocean " I have explained 
this wonderful power of the tail in the whales. Besides serving 
as the rudder or paddle, it is the tail of the fish that enables many 
of them to make those leaps out of the water to which I have 
frequently alluded in these pages. From the enormous whales and 
sharks to the small stickleback, this power seems to belong to the 
greater number of fishes. 

The fins on the upper surface of the fish serve to balance the 
body ; those on the lower surface to turn it, to move it slowly, and 
to keep it suspended in strong currents ; but in all these move- 
ments the assistance of the tail is observable. 

Some of the fins of fishes are vertical, constituting a kind of 
keel or rudder; those on the back are named dorsals (from the 
Latin dorsum, "a back"); behind the vent and under the tail, 
anal; and at the extremity of the tail they form caudals (from the 
Latin cauda, "a tail "). They differ in number, size, and the nature 
of the rays which support them, being sometimes spiny, and in 
other cases soft and articulated. Those corresponding to arms or 
wings are the pectorals (from the Latin pectus, " the chest"), invari- 
ably fixed behind the gills. 



312 SWIMMING-BLADDERS OF FISHES. 

Paley, in his " Natural Theology," thus sums up the actions of 
the fins of fishes : "The pectoral, and more particularly the ven- 
tral (belonging to the stomach) fins serve to raise and depress the 
fish : when the fish desires to have a retrograde motion, a stroke 
forward with the pectoral fin effectually produces it ; if the fish 
desires to turn either way, a single blow with the tail the opposite 
way sends it round at once; if the tail strike both ways, the motion 
produced by the double lash is progressive, and enables the fish to 
dart forwards with an astonishing velocity. The result is not only 
in some cases the most rapid, but in all cases the most gentle, 
pliant, easy, animal motion with which we are acquainted. In their 
mechanical use, the anal fin may be reckoned the keel ; the ven- 
tral fins, the outriggers ; the pectoral fins, the oars [and, we may 
now add, the caudal fin, the screw-propeller]. And if there be any 
similitudes between those parts oi a boat and a fish, observe," adds 
Paley, " it is not the resemblance of imitation, but the likeness 
which arises from applying similar mechanical means to the same 
purpose." 

Another powerful aid to the buoyancy of fishes is the air cr 
swimming-bladder, which Paley describes as " a philosophical appa- 
ratus in the body oi an animal." It is easy to see at the back-bone 
of the herring and. other fishes a shining pearly-looking membrane, 
almost enveloped by the roe or milt of the fish. This is the air or 
swimming-bladder ; and it is oi this, as found in the sturgeon, the 
carp, the ling, and many other fishes, when dried and prepared by 
certain processes, that the substance called isinglass is manufac- 
tured. 

It is the swimming-bladder that serves the fish for rising or sinking 
in the waters ; but in such fishes as reside at the bottom of the sea 
or never come to the surface, this bladder is almost always wanting. 
How truly wonderful is this provision oi nature ! As Paley remarks, 
" it would be very worthy oi inquiry to know by what method an 
animal which lives constantly in water is able to supply a repository 
oi air." 

The bodies of fishes are nearly the same specific gravity as the 
water in which they live, owing to the great quantity oi fat they 



RESPIRATION, SMELL, AND TASTE OF FISHES. 313 

contain, so that very little effort is required to keep them at any 
given height, and their ascent or descent in the water. 

The circulation of blood is peculiar. There is but a single heart 
in fishes, that is, a heart consisting of only two cavities ; and these 
correspond not to the left heart of mammals or birds, but to their 
right or pulmonic heart. 

Respiration is carried on by means of the gills, which take the 
place of lungs, and consist of a large number of blood-vessels, 
placed near the forward extremity of the animal, and protected by 
a bony case or covering, often defended by strong spines. The 
gills are placed in immediate communication with the heart. Water, 
which is impregnated with atmospheric air, entering at the mouth, 
is forced out again by the apertures at each side of the neck, and 
thus maintains almost a constant stream or rush through them, 
entering and again expelled at intervals. When fishes are taken 
irom the water, the delicate thready structure of the gills imme- 
diately collapses ; when exposed to the air, a kind of suffocation 
ensues, and death is the result. This is the general principle of 
respiration in fishes, but in some cases the structure varies. 

The smell of fishes in some species is remarkable : they scent 
their prey at a great distance, and the very perfection of this func- 
tion is often fatal to them. Some fishes are so allured by scents, 
that by smearing the hand over with them, and immersing it in 
water, fishes (not sharks, let us hope) will often flock towards the 
fingers, and may easily be taken. Fishermen have the habit of 
making their bait more attractive by steeping it in some strong- 
smelling ingredient. On the American shores, the fishermen use 
putrid or damaged fish as bait for mackerel. They are thrown 
into a box-hopper, in which a cylinder studded with knives is made 
to revolve by a crank. This is called the " halt-mill," and by its 
aid the contents are reduced to a kind of paste, which is thrown 
into the sea to attract the fish, which are then caught by lines with 
hooks, having a piece of polished pewter attached as a lure. In 
all fishes, nostrils or external openings are very apparent, and in 
these the nerves of smell are distributed. 

Taste in fishes (as in animals who almost invariably swallow their 



3H TOUCH, SIGHT, AND TEETH OF FISHES. 

food without mastication) cannot be very acute, since their tongue 
is in great part bony, and is often furnished with teeth and other 
hard coverings. 

The organ of touch is in general as imperfect as that of taste : 
without prolonged members, and flexible fingers capable of grasp- 
ing, they can scarcely explore the forms of objects by any other 
means than by their lips. Certain little fleshy tendrils which some 
fishes possess may supply the imperfections of touch in the other 
organs. 

The bodies of most fishes are covered with small brilliant plates 
of a horny nature called scales, but in some kinds these are wanting, 
as in the turbot and others, in place of which are found bony pro- 
tuberances in some species, and in others a very smooth skin 
without scales, and covered with a thick gelatinous secretion from 
the body. The scales consist of a substance chemically resembling 
the composition of bones and teeth. They usually overlap each 
other like tiles. Some are very thick, forming a kind of armour. 

In general, fish have large eyes, and in particular, the pupil is 
very broad and open, as might be expected in creatures who re- 
quire great powers of vision in the deep, where light penetrates 
but scantily. The eyes have no real eyelids, the skin passing over 
them mostly in a transparent form, to admit light ; and they are 
sometimes opaque or dense. Some varieties of fish, whose eyes 
are fixed on the upper surface of their bodies, cannot see what 
prey they swallow; others have no outward indication of an eye. 
" No tear moistens, nor eyelid shelters or wipes the surface : the 
eyes of fish are only representations of that beautiful and animated 
organ which is found in the superior class of animals." 

"The teeth of fishes," says Professor Owen, "whether we study 
them in regard to their number, form, substance, structure, situa- 
tion, or mode of attachment, offer a greater and more striking series 
of varieties than do those of any other class of animals. In num- 
ber they range from zero to countless quantities. In the sharks 
and rays the teeth are supported by the upper or lower jaws, as 
in most quadrupeds ; but many other fishes have teeth growing 
from the roof of the mouth, from the surface of the tongue, from 



VARIED USES OF FISH. 315 

the bony hoop or arches supporting the gills, and some have them 
developed from the bone of the nose and the base of the skull." 
In all fishes the teeth are shed and renewed not once only, as in 
mammals, but frequently during the whole course of their lives. 

Fishes have but small occasion for the sense of hearing, " being 
condemned to reside in the empire of silence, where all around is 
mute." In most fishes the auditory parts are buried in the skull, 
and send no process to the surface. 

Singular stories, however, are told of fishes being sensible to the 
sound of music. Ancient writers — ^Elian and Aristotle — mention 
some fishes, and particularly skates, who are attracted in this 
manner. Two men embark in a boat, one with a musical instru- 
ment and the other with a net, and by this music the fishes become 
so entranced as to be taken easily. A somewhat similar mode is 
said to be practised by the boatmen of the Danube, who use bells 
for the purpose. Carp have been known to distinguish the sound 
of a bell, and the voice of their keeper when called to be fed. 

The brain of fishes is remarkably small in proportion to the size 
of the animal, the quantity of nerves arising out of it, and the size 
of the cavity which contains it. The space thus left vacant is often 
filled with oil or fat. 

Some fishes are not altogether indifferent to the fate of their 
brood. I have already alluded to the attachment of the mammalian 
order for their young. Some fishes leave the depths of the ocean, 
and deposit their spawn in the shallows, where the young fry are 
comparatively safe from the voracity of their numerous enemies. 
Some build nests for their young, as I shall further explain in this 
chapter. 

The eggs of fishes are generally deposited on the surface of the 
water, where they float during the period of their development. 

It is in the Northern seas that fishes display their most astonish- 
ing fecundity — not so much in the variety of species as in the 
multitude of individuals of a species ; and the ocean nowhere else 
produces an abundance of fish approaching to the myriads of her- 
ring and cod in that quarter. 

The uses to which fish are applied are numerous. They afford a 



316 CURATIVE PROPERTIES OF CERTAIN FISHES. 

valuable manure when they are to be had in plenty. Fishery-salt 
is also a great fertilizer. Pretty ornaments are made from fish- 
scales, as brooches, bracelets, &c. ; the eyes of fishes are also em- 
ployed by the makers of shell flowers for imitating buds. Mock 
pearls are made from an essence obtained by scraping the scales 
off the bleak (a fresh-water fish) and the whitebait. The natives 
of the north-west coast of America make from the entrails of fishes 
bracelets, fishing-lines, thread, work-bags, head-dresses, and needle- 
cases ; fish-hooks and needles are made of the bones. 

I have already alluded to isinglass, which is made from the dense 
membrane which forms the air-bladder of the sturgeon and other 
fishes. Oil, as you know, forms a staple article of commerce. The 
dog-fish is caught principally for the oil from its liver — a large fish 
yielding about a barrel-full. The skin of this fish is used to refine 
liquors, clear coffee, &c. In several of the chapters in this book I 
have mentioned other and important uses to which fishes in various 
ways are applied. 

Our ancestors were firm believers in the curative properties Ox 
certain fish. I can only mention a few of these strange notions. 
Pickled herrings were applied to the soles of the feet in ievers ; 
pilchards were in great request for swellings of the gums and legs ; 
the flesh of the tunny was considered an antidote to poison ; the 
teeth of thornbacks, bruised in a mortar, were used for sore eyes ; 
the gall for complaints of the ear ; the bones of the sturgeon were 
reduced to powder and applied in rheumatic cases; oyster and 
mussel-shells ground to powder were also employed. 

Wonderful is the property of several species of fish of inflicting 
electric shocks so severe as to produce exhaustion and numbness 
of the nerves exposed to its action. "That God," says Kirby, 
" should arm certain fishes, in some sense, with the lightning of 
the clouds, and enable them thus to employ an element so potent 
and irresistible as we do gunpowder, to astound, and smite, and 
stupefy, and kill the inhabitants of the water, is one of those won- 
ders of an Almighty arm which no terrestrial animal is gifted to 
exhibit. " 

The I'orfiedo, popularly named by fishermen "numb-fish" and 



ELECTRIC FISHES. 31? 

11 cramp-fish," a genus of fishes of the Ray order, is a living electri- 
cal machine, which has the power of striking its enemies even at a 
very considerable distance. Fishermen constantly witness evi- 
dences of the singular faculty of this fish. As soon as it enters 
their net, they are made aware of the fact by the shocks which are 
transmitted through the tackle by which it is suspended. These 
have been known to be sufficiently violent to compel the men to 
let go when they are drawing their nets, and thus allow the whole 
haul to fall back into the sea. The ancients were aware of this 
singular property in the fish. Oppian says : 

" The hooked torpedo ne'er forgets its art, 
But soon as struck begins to play its part, 
And to the line applies its magic sides ; 
Without delay the subtle power glides 
Along the pliant rod and slender hairs, 
Then to the fisher's hand as swift repairs. 
Amazed he stands : his arm of sense bereft, 
Down drops the idle rod ; his prey is left. 
Not less benumb'd than if he 'd felt the whole 
Of frost's severest rage beneath the Arctic pole." 

A poet's license is here exercised, but it is, nevertheless, true 
that a shock is equally inflicted by the torpedo, whether the fish 
is touched by the naked hand or by the medium of a stick. The 
2*orpenididce i as this family is termed, has been divided into a 
number of genera. They have a short and not very thick tail, 
cylindrical towards the end, and in outward appearance somewhat 
resemble a skate, and have nearly the same habits. Two species 
of the torpedo are occasionally found on the southern coasts of 
England, the common, or Marmorata, which sometimes attains a 
large size, weighing a hundred pounds ; and the Nobiliana, which 
is more rare. They are readily distinguished by the spiracles 
behind the eyes, which are round and fringed at the edges in the 
former, and perfectly smooth in the latter. These and other spe- 
cies are found more plentifully in the Mediterranean. Mr. Bad- 
ham states " that when the torpedo is disposed to ' astonish ' any 
one, she furnishes to a careful observer the following premonitory 
indications of her intentions : the back— which, unlike that of the 



318 ELECTRIC APPARATUS OP THE TORPEDO. 

cat — is gibbous and raised when she is in good humour, flattens 
as she waxes angry, till the convex surface, gradually drawn in, 
becomes at length slightly concave ; and at the same time the 
eyes, remarkably prominent during the repose of the creature, are 
retracted far back in the orbits. These are the precursory signals 
that the phials of her wrath are to be poured forth ; the shock 
then instantly follows, and the fish as suddenly swells out again, 
recovering its usual form, generally to prepare for a new attack. 
These shocks follow in rapid succession : she sometimes inflicts 
forty or fifty broadsides in the course of one minute, and they are 
sufficiently powerful to destroy, as by lightning, small animals ex- 
posed to their inf]uence.' , 

Cuvier describes the electric apparatus of this fish to consist of 
a series of honeycomb-looking cells, filled with a thickish gelatinous 
fluid, and abundantly supplied with nerves, situated between the 
gills and the head of the fish. 

The electrical organs are two in number. The number of cells 
varies according to the size of the fish : thus, in each organ of one 
fish were counted four hundred and seventy, and in another large 
fish one thousand one hundred and eighty-two. This natural elec- 
tricity can be drawn from the fish by means of a conductor, and a 
shock is felt through a circuit formed by several persons joining 
hands. 

The Electric Eel, little inferior to the torpedo in its " shocking " 
properties, is an inhabitant of the fresh waters of the tropical seas. 
The Thunder-fish of the Arabs — which also communicates a power- 
ful electric stroke—belongs to the Nile and the rivers of Central 
Africa. 

A remarkable power of stinging is possessed by some of the 
inhabitants of the deep. What is called the Trygon, or Sting-Ray 
(one species of which, the Eire Elaire, is found in our seas), is able 
to inflict severe wounds by its muscular and flexible tail, which it 
winds round the object of attack, and with the sword or spine at 
its base, pierces and lacerates. This weapon is armed with rows 
of serrated teeth at each side, every tooth of which is a small saw. 
" The worst and most dangerous wound, however," remarks Mr s 



STINGING FISHES. 319 



Badham, li is when the elastic tail dashes the apparatus, saws and 
all, into an unfortunate fisherman's thigh (as has frequently hap- 
pened, in spite of the ordinary precautions), dragging it out again 
to make a new lunge before the unhappy victim has had time to 
escape ; and so expert is this fish in this small-sword exercise, and 
so swiftly does stroke follow stroke, that persons who have seen it 
in operation report that, but for the spoutings of fresh blood, and 
the larger display of raw surface, they would have declared the 
weapon motionless all the time. The terrible sufferings inflicted 
by this atrocious caudine weapon — which is borne by four other 
colossal skates, as well as by the sea-eagle — has caused it to be 
regarded with as much superstious reverence by fishermen as was 
the tail of his music-master, Chiron, by the youthful Achilles." 

The Sting-Ray fish attains a colossal size in the Mediterranean. 
" He possesses an enormous pair of fins, which, stretching out from 
either side of the body, offer a striking resemblance to a pair of 
wide-spread wings; and he has, moreover, a detached head, ter- 
minating in a porrect (extended) process, like a beak, and a large 
pair of piercing bright eyes," whence the origin of its appellation 
of " sea-eagle." 

The Great Weever or Sting-Butt, and the Little or Viper Weever, 
possess the same formidable properties as the stinging ray. Both 
are found on our coasts, the former being about a foot long, and 
the other about four or five inches. Though of such small dimen- 
sions, these fishes are troublesome to encounter. The fins are 
spiny, and the gill-cover is furnished with a strong and sharp spine, 
which is directed backward, but is capable of being made erect to 
meet an enemy. This they use by a sudden bending of the body. 
Pennant states that the little weever buries itself in the sand, 
watching for its prey, leaving only its snout exposed, and if trod 
upon, it immediately uses its weapon with great force. 

I have, in the chapter on "The Floating Navigators of the 
Ocean," alluded to the stinging powers of the Physalis, or " Portu- 
guese man-of-war." It is a common trick with sailors to make a 
novice pick up one of these beautiful creatures, and then enjoy his 
discomfiture, 



32o TROPICAL "DOCTOR" FISHES. 

The Acanthuri, (from Greek words signifying "a spine," and 
"tail"), tropical fishes, some of which are remarkable for beauty 
of form and variety of colours, possess also a power of inflicting 
dangerous stings or wounds, which has obtained for them the 
name of "doctors" from our sailors, on account of the severe 
wounds they inflict on such as handle them unwarily. They have 
teeth trenchant and notched, and a strong spine at each side of 
the tail as sharp as a lancet, whence they are also called lancet- 
fishes. With these weapons they defend themselves with courage 
and success against the largest of their assailants. Many other 
fishes possess the same power of inflicting stings and wounds : 
living a life of constant warfare in the deep, Nature has bestowed 
upon them means of defence and for procuring their prey. 

" It is worthy of observation," remarks Mr. Gosse, " that, with 
very few exceptions, the immense population of the ocean is car- 
nivorous. The principal circumstance that regulates the choice of 
diet among fishes seems to be the power of mastery. Of terrestrial 
creatures, a very large number are peaceful, never, under ordinary 
circumstances, willingly taking the life of even the most helpless 
around them • but the sea is a vast slaughter-house, where nearly 
every inhabitant dies a violerft death, and finds a grave in the maw 
of his fellow. Yet let us not arraign the providence of God, as 
if it were cruel arid unkind : a sudden termination of existence is 
the most merciful mode, as far as we can conceive, by which the 
overflow of animal life could be checked." 

As James Montgomery says : 

" 'Twas wisdom, mercy, goodness that ordain'd 
Life in such infinite profusion — Death 
So sure, so prompt, so multiform to those 
That never sinn'd, that know not guilt, that fear 
No wrath to come, and have no heaven to lose. " 

A very interesting family of fishes, for the peculiar properties 
which they possess, are the Sucking-fishes — remarkable for having 
the ventral fins united under the surface of the body to form the 
apparatus which distinguishes them. To this family belong the Sea- 
Owl Snail, and one or two British species, in eluding the Lump-sucker. 



THE REMORA OR SUCKING-FISH. 321 

This animal has a grotesque and clumsy form, but the colours which 
ornament it are very fine, combining various shades of blue, purple, 
and orange. It attains a tolerably large size, about nineteen inches, 
weighing sometimes seven or eight pounds. Its sucker is so power- 
ful that a pail, containing some gallons of water, has been lifted, 
when one of these fishes contained in it was taken by the tail. 

To this family Cuvier also referred the far-famed Remora ; 
noticing, however, the different position of the sucking disc, and 
other important distinctions, on account of which a very different 
place is now assigned to it. The use of the sucking apparatus is, 
however, much the same — that of attaching the animal to fixed 
substances, so that it may remain and obtain its food, where other- 
wise it would be swept away by the current. 

The remora (from the Latin remoror, " I delay ") was the subject 
of much imaginative terror to the ancients, who believed that it had 
the power to impede or stop the course of a ship. Oppian says : 

"The seamen run confus'd, no labour spared, 
Let fly the sheets, and hoist the topmast yard; 
The master bids them give her all the sails, 
To court the winds and catch the coming gales; 
But though the canvas bellies with the blast, 
And boisterous winds bend down the cracking mast, 
The bark stands firmly rooted on the sea, 
And all unmov'd as tower or towering tree." 

Pliny writes : " Why should our fleets and armadas at sea make 
such turrets on the walls and forecastles, when one little fish (see 
the vanity of man !) is able to arrest and stay, perforce, our goodly 
and tall ships ? " 

These are droll fancies ; but, tested by fact, the adhesive powers 
of this fish are very remarkable, great weights being dragged by it, 
and retaining its hold with a bull-dog tenacity, even submitting to 
be torn to pieces before it will relinquish its hold. It is frequently 
seen among other fishes in the Atlantic, attaching itself to some one 
or other by its sucker, and often, also, to the rudder or bottom of 
a ship. 

The length of the Mediterranean remora is about eighteen inches, 

81 



322 HISTORICAL RENOWN OF THE LAMPREY. 

and the length of the head is nearly one-fifth of the proportion of 
the whole fish. Feeding principally on the small animals diffused 
throughout the waters of the ocean, it probably receives a suffi- 
ciency of food even when attached to a moving object, as a ship or 
large fish, merely by opening its mouth, which has a very wide gape. 

Belonging to a distinct family, but employing its mouth as a 
powerful sucker, is the Sea-Lamprey, a species resembling eels in 
the rounded shape of the body and a certain similarity of habits. 
The mouth is circular, armed with hard tooth-like processes, and 
provided with a flexible lip. So great is the power of suction which 
it possesses, that a stone has been raised by it out of the water, 
weighing ten or twelve pounds, and yet the fish measures but from 
two to three feet. 

The historical renown of the lamprey is very great. It was the 
favourite dish of the Romans, who kept the fishes in ponds at a 
great expense. The best lampreys were procured from Sicily as 
presents to the reigning emperors and high officials. A hundred 
pieces of gold were sometimes paid for them. 

A horrible story is told of Pollio, a friend of Augustus Caesar, 
who, on the supposition that lampreys fed on human flesh were 
more delicate, ordered his slaves, when accused of the slightest 
fault, to be thrown- into his fish-pond. This cruelty was discovered 
when one of his servants broke a glass in the presence of the 
Emperor, who had been invited to a feast. The master ordered 
the slave to be seized, but he threw himself at the feet of the 
Emperor, and begged him to interfere, and not suffer him to be 
devoured by the lampreys. On examining into the matter, the 
Emperor, astonished at the barbarity of his favourite, caused the 
fish-ponds to be filled up. 

In the annals of our own country, you are, no doubt, aware that 
one of our English monarchs died from eating lampreys to excess : 

" Henry First willed of a lampreye to ete, 
But his leches [physicians] him vorbode vor yt was a feble mete." 

Respecting this fish, Mr. Couch tells us there is another use to 
which the mouth or sucker is applied. The whole of its interior 
arch is studded with rows of teeth, each one of which, on a broad 



THE "MAIL-CHEEKED" GROUP OF FISHES. 333 



base, is furnished with one or two apparently reversed points, and 
these teeth which are most remote and concealed are larger than 
others, and more effectually crowded with these points. For 
simply biting they are useless, but when the breadth of the mouth 
is brought into contact with the surface of a fish on which the lam- 
prey has laid hold, by producing a vacuum these roughly-pointed 
teeth are brought forward so as to be able to act on it by a cir- 
cular motion ; and the limited space of the captive prey is thus 
rasped into a pulp and swallowed, until a hole is made which may, 
perhaps, penetrate to the bones, and from the torture of which the 
most strenuous exertion of the victim cannot deliver it. This is 
frequeut on the mackerel and on other fishes, as the gurnard, coal- 
fish, cod, and haddock. 

It was an old custom for the corporation of the city of Glou- 
cester to present to the reigning Sovereign a pie of lampreys yearly, 
but this practice has long ceased. 

The " Mail-Cheeked " or Gurnard group of fishes offer some 
very interesting subjects for notice, including a considerable 
number of species, all characterized by sharp projecting cheeks, 
and heads cased in armour of bony plates, among which I may 
mention the Flying Gurnard, the Sea-Scorpion, the Father-lasher, 
and the pugnacious little Stickleback, with the fresh-water species 
of which you are no doubt perfectly familiar. 

The name "gurnard" is derived from the growling grunting 
noise which these fishes make, by means of the throat and gills, 
when taken out of the water, and which has obtained for one 
species the name of " piper." The Romans used to call the latter 
" lyres," rather, perhaps, on account of their fancied resemblance 
to an ancient lyre, than to the very unmusical sound they emit. 
Many of the gurnards are distinguished by beauty of colour : two 
of the most common species on our own coasts are the rose-red, 
about fifteen inches in length, and the grey, which is spotted with 
brown, black, and yellowish-white, 

The New Zeala7id Gurnard, about eighteen inches in length, is a 
splendid fish : the upper part is brownish-red, the fins are very 
Urge and of an emerald green, broadly bordered with azure blue, 



324 PUGNACITY OF THE MARINE STICKLEBACKS. 

and having an oval patch of velvety black beautifully relieved with 
snow-white spots. 

The Sea-Scorpion differs from its land namesake, the possessor 
of one solitary but dangerous tail-sting, the head of the fish being 
surrounded with goads and prickles, which render it a formidable 
enemy to contend with, by swelling out its cheeks and gill-covers 
to a large size, realizing Ovid's description of it, — 

"Scorpoena's poison'd head, beset with spines;" 

excepting that the stings, beyond inflicting a smart pain, are not 
venomous. Some of these animals are remarkable for their ugli- 
ness, and others exhibit very fine colours. They abound in the 
warm seas, and are often taken on our own shores, sometimes ex- 
ceeding a foot in length. 

The Marine Sticklebacks, which are thus named from the spines 
which arm their back, ventral fins, and other parts, are inhabitants 
of the seas in cold and temperate regions, and are curious little 
animals, a kind of Lilliputian warriors armed at all points for war- 
fare, protected at the sides by shell-like plates, and with spears that 
play terrible havoc among the Crustacea and small animals on 
which they feed. They are objects of peculiar interest from the 
beauty of their colours, which they change in a remarkable manner. 
They are excessively pugnacious and predatory in their habits, the 
larger species eating the smaller, and destroying the eggs and fry 
of fishes to a prodigious extent. Mr. Couch relates of the fifteen- 
spined stickleback, about six inches in length, — sometimes called 
the "sea-adder," — "that it keeps near rocks and stones clothed 
with sea-weeds, among which it takes refuge upon any alarm. 
Though less active than its brethren of the fresh water, it is scarcely 
less rapacious. On one occasion I noticed a specimen engaged 
in taking its prey from a clump of sea-weed, in doing which it 
assumed every posture between the horizontal and perpendicular, 
with the head downwards and upwards, thrusting its projecting 
snout into the crevices of the stems, and seizing its prey with a 
spring. Having taken this fish with a net, and transferred it to a 
vessel of water, in company with an eel three inches long, the 



THE STICKLEBACKS NEST-BUILDING FISHES. 325 

latter was attacked and devoured head foremost ; not, indeed, al- 
together, for the eel was too large a morsel, so that the tail re- 
mained hanging out of the mouth, and it was obliged to disgorge 
the eel partly digested." 

A writer in "Loudon's Magazine" relates some interesting obser- 
vations on the fighting propensities of these animals when confined 
in a tub of water : 

" A few at first are turned in, and swim about in a shoal, appa- 
rently examining their new habitation. Suddenly one will take 
possession of a comer of a tub, or, as it will sometimes happen, of 
the bottom, and will instantly commence an attack on its com- 
panions ; and if any of these venture to oppose its rule, a regular 
and most furious battle ensues. The two combatants swim round 
and round each other with the greatest rapidity, biting, and en- 
deavouring to pierce each other with their spines, which on these 
occasions are projected. I have witnessed a battle of this sort which 
lasted several minutes before the other would give way ; and when 
one does submit, imagination can hardly conceive the vindictive 
fury of the conqueror, who, in the most persevering and unrelenting 
way, chases its rival from one part of the tub to another until fairly 
exhausted with fatigue. They also use their spines with such fatal 
effect that, incredible as it may appear, I have seen one, during a 
battle, absolutely rip an opponent quite open, so that it sank to 
the bottom and died. I have known three or four parts of the tub 
taken possession of by as many other little tyrants, who guard their 
territories with the strictest vigilance, and the slightest invasion 
invariably brings on a battle." 

It is pleasing to add for the honour of the sex that the females 
take no part in these ferocious proceedings ; a redeeming feature 
in the belligerents, however, is the care which they take in building 
their nests, and watching over the welfare of the females and their 
eggs. You may not have heard of nest-building fishes, and, indeed, 
although the ancients were acquainted with this instinct in some 
fishes, it was not until 1838 that modern naturalists proved this 
by the discovery of a stickleback-nest by Mr. Edwards. These 
animals collect small pieces of straw or stick, with which the bottom 



326 OTHER. NEST-BUILDING FISHES. 

of the nest is laid among water-plants, and these they cement to- 
gether by a transpiration from their own bodies, which forms a 
thread through and round them in every conceivable direction. 
The thread is whitish, fine, and silken. The sides of the nest are 
made after the bottom. 

Not many fishes are yet known as nest-builders. The Goramy, 
a native of the China seas, forms at the breeding-season a nest by 
interlacing the stems and leaves of aquatic grapes. Both male 
and female watch these nests for a month or more with great vigi- 
lance, violently driving away every other fish until the spawn is 
hatched. The Gobies, or Sea-Gudgeons, have similar instincts. 
Many, however, are known not to construct nests. Salmon and 
others exhibit an approach to the nest-building habit, in making a 
place for their eggs in the sand or gravel. 

I must now notice the Flying Gurnard, remarkably distinguished 
from the others of the family to which it is allied by the great size 
of its pectoral fins, which are long enough, and their webs suffi- 
ciently broad, to sustain the fish in the air during its long flying 
leaps out of the water. These fins, however, are very different in 
appearance from those of the flying-fish {Exocetus, " fishes out of 
the water"), which belongs to another family. The flying gurnard 
is an inhabitant of the warm seas; one species is common in the 
Mediterranean, and is sometimes fifteen inches in length. Its flight 
is said not to extend more than about forty yards, but it sometimes 
rises high enough to fall on the decks of large ships. At particular 
times, and especially on the approach of rough weather, in the night 
numbers of them may be seen by the phosphoric light which they 
emit, making their passages in apparent streams of fire. 

Flying-fishes have the power of raising themselves out of the 
water, and continuing suspended in the air until their fins become 
dry, by which means they escape some of their marine enemies, 
such as the dolphin and many others. 

" So fishes rising from the main, 

Can soar with moisten'd wings on high ; 
The moisture dried, they sink again, 
And dip their wings, again to fly." 



FLYING-FISHES. 327 



But they run the gauntlet of the long-winged sea-birds, which seize 
them in the air; and between themselves and their swimming and 
flying enemies, they furnish one of the most singular sights in the 
warm seas of the tropics. One species of the Exocetus (volitans) 
sometimes visits our own coasts, and are said to "leap" more than 
two hundred yards in distance, and upwards of twenty feet in 
height. Although these fishes are called " flying," their action has 
more resemblance to a long and vigorous leap than the flight of 
birds. Mr. Bennett remarks that birds have an elegant, fearless, 
and independent motion; while that of the fish is hurried, stiff, 
and awkward, more like a creature requiring support for a short 
period. 

Moore addresses in some sweet lines the flying-fish : 

" When I have seen thy snowy \mng 
O'er the blue wave at evening spring, 
And give those scales of silvery white 
So gaily to the eye of light 
(As if thy frame were formed to rise 
And live amid the glorious skies) ; 
Oh ! it has made me proudly feel 
How like thy wings' impatient zeal 
Is the pure soul that scorns to rest 
Upon the world's ignoble breast, 
But spreads the plume that God has giveo, 
And rises into light and heaven. 

" But when I see that wing so bright 
Grow languid with a moment's flight, 
Attempt the paths of air in vain, 
And sink into the waves again ; 
Alas ! the flatterer's pride is o'er : 
Like that awhile the soul may soar, 
But erring men must blush to think, 
Like thee again the soul may sink. 

u O Virtue ! when thy clime I seek, 
Let not my spirit's flight be weak ; 
Let me not, like this feeble thing, 
That spreads awhile its splendid wing, 
Just sparkle 'midst the solar glow, 
And plunge again to depths below ; 



328 STRANGE SOUNDS AT SEA. 

But when I leave the grosser throng 
With whom my soul hath dwelt so long, 
Let me in that aspiring day 
Cast every lingering stain away, 
f And panting for thy purer air, 

Fly up at once and fix me there." 

Very curious are the statements regarding what have been called 
" musical " fish, but how far such a title is warranted is doubtful. 
It is known that many fishes, notwithstanding their being charac- 
terized as mute, are remarkable for giving utterance to a peculiar 
sound called " drumming." This is very perceptible in the famous 
Maigre of the Mediterranean, the Umbrina of the Romans, a fish 
which swims in groups, and often utters a low bellowing sound 
beneath the water, which is heard from a depth of one hundred and 
twenty feet, and is rendered stronger by placing the ear upon the 
gunwale of the boat. 

Lieutenant White, of the American service, in his "Voyage to 
the China Seas/' published in 1824, relates that being at the mouth 
of the Cambodia, his crew and himself were extremely astonished 
by hearing certain unaccountable sounds from beneath and around 
the vessel. These were various, like the bass notes of an organ, 
the sound of bells, the croaking of frogs, and a pervading twang 
which the imagination might have attributed to the vibrations of 
some enormous harp. For a time the mysterious music swelled 
upon them, and finally formed an universal chorus all around ; but 
as the vessel ascended the river, the sounds diminished in strength, 
and soon altogether ceased. 

Humboldt was witness to a similar fact in the South Sea, but 
without suspecting the cause. Towards seven in the evening the 
whole crew were astounded by an extraordinary noise, which re- 
sembled that of drums which were beating in the air. It was at 
first attributed to the breakers. Speedily it was heard in the vessel, 
and especially towards the poop. It was like a boiling, the noise 
of the air which escapes from fluid in ebullition. The sailors began 
to fear there was some leak in the vessel. It was heard unceas- 
ingly in all parts of the vessel, and finally, about nine o'clock, it 
ceased altogether. 



MUSICAL FISHES. 329 

It would, as Baron Cuvier has observed, form a curious matter 
of research to ascertain by what organs these sounds are produced 
at so great a depth, and without communication with the exterior 
air. The illustrious naturalist further remarks that such of the 
Scioznidcz (the Maigre family) as are the most remarkable for the 
faculty in question, have the swimming-bladder very large and 
thick, furnished with extremely strong muscles, and are, in several 
species, provided with more or less complicated prolongations, 
which penetrate between the intervals of the ribs. But what ren- 
ders the phenomenon more unaccountable is that these swimming- 
bladders have no communication with the intestinal canal, nor, in 
general, with any part of the exterior. 

The interpreter belonging to Lieutenant White's ship stated that 
the marine music which had so much surprised the crew was pro- 
duced by fishes of a flattened oval form, and which possess the 
faculty of adhering to various bodies by their mouths. This fish 
might have been the Pogonia, which produces much more sound 
than any of the other Maigre tribe to which it belongs, on which 
account it is sometimes called the "drum-fish." SchcerT reports of 
them that they will assemble round the keel of a vessel at anchor, 
and serenade the crew. Some of the species attain a large size, 
one hundred pounds or more, and are excellent for the table. 

Sir James Emerson Tennant, in his account of Ceylon, states : 
" In the evening when the moon had risen, I took a boat and 
accompanied the fishermen to the spot where musical sounds were 
said to be heard issuing from the bottom of a lake, and which the 
natives supposed to proceed from some fish peculiar to the locality. 
I distinctly heard the sounds in question. They came up from 
the water like the gentle thrills of a musical chord, or the faint 
vibrations of a wine-glass when its rim is rubbed by a wet finger. 
It was not one sustained note, but a multitude of tiny sounds, each 
clear and distinct in itself, the sweetest treble mingling with the 
deepest bass. They came evidently and sensibly from the depths of 
the lake, and appeared to be produced by mollusca, and not by fish. ,, 

Sounds somewhat similar are heard under water at some places 
en the western coast of India, especially in the harbour of Bombay, 



33d THE SEA-DEVIL. 



At Caldera, in Chili, musical cadences are said to issue from the 
sea near the landing-place : they are described as rising and falling 
fully four notes, resembling the tones of harp-strings, and mingling, 
like those at Batticuloa, until they produce musical sounds of great 
delicacy and sweetness. The animals from which they proceed 
have not been identified at either place, and the mystery remains 
unsolved. 

"And a music wild and slow, 

Ever o'er the curved shells 
Wanders with a fitful flow, 

As the billow sinks or swells ; 
Now to faintest whispers hushing, 
Now in louder cadence gushing, 

Waken from their pleasant sleep 
All the tuneful Nereid throng, 
Till their notes of wreathed song 
Float in magic streams along, 

Chaunting joyaunce through the deep." 

Among the foremost of "queer" fish I may mention the Sea- 
Devil , a most inharmonious name, but which seems to have been 
given to it on account of its hideous, strange, and uncouth appear- 
ance. A species of this extraordinary fish of the Skate family fre- 
quents Kingston harbour in Jamaca, where they are seen floating 
on the surface, or swimming just beneath the water. In the 
eleventh volume of the " Edinburgh Philosophical Journal" is an 
account by Lieutenant Lamont, of the Ninety-first Regiment, of the 
escape of a devil-fish and the capture of another at Port Royal. 
The lieutenant had been called to the beach by seeing a multitude 
assembled to look at one of these fishes floating past. His curi- 
osity turned to surprise when he saw, flapping on the water, about 
twenty yards from the shore, a large dark-coloured mass, whose 
shape and size he could not immediately determine, but which 
seemed prodigiously big beyond anything he could conceive, since 
it so much exceeded all he had ever seen or heard of fishes. The 
boats were started off to pursue it, and it was harpooned, but no 
sooner was the monster struck than it made off with amazing velo- 
city, towing the boat of the harpooner after him. A succession of 



CAPTURE OF A SEA-DEVIL. 3$t 

\ boats now came up. These strung themselves on to the harpooner 
one after another, striking each a harpoon as the boats came up. 

* They consecutively formed a long line, but such was the force of 

this fish that all the boats were drawn out ten miles to sea. Night 

was drawing on. To bring the chase to a close, another harpoon 

j was struck into the monster, when it made one convulsive effort 

to get away, and broke loose, carrying away eight or ten harpoons 

and pikes, leaving every one astonished at the success of its escape. 

Another devil-fish was not so fortunate, and Lieutenant Lamont 

gives the history of its capture within the harbour, which the ani- 

I mal traversed up and down, dragging with such velocity the boat 

from which it had been struck, that the other boats following could 

not overtake the fish. Its struggles were tremendous, plunging 

f into the midst of the boats that at length surrounded it, darting 
from the surface to the bottom of the water, and then rising swiftly, 
dashing the foam about on every side, and rolling round and round 
to extricate itself from the poles and lines. Unable to get away, 
it swam off, towing all the boats after it, and then laid itself at 
the bottom of the water. From this position the stretch and 
strain of all the boats' crews could not move it. Slackening their 
efforts gradually, the monster rose again to the surface, when a 
shower of musket-balls and pikes riddled it through. Until this 
capture was effected, it was believed that a sea-devil was beyond 
the might of human art and strength. The dimensions of this fish 
were not more than half that of the common size, being only fifteen 
feet in width. A man, however, entered the mouth with ease, the 

- space being two feet and a half. The weight of the fish was so 
great, that, with difficulty, forty men with two lines attached to it 
dragged it along the ground. 

A devil-fish taken at Barbadoes required seven yoke of oxen to 
draw it. 

In the account of the fish taken in Delaware Bay (remarks the 
Hon. Richard Hill in an interesting article on the subject of the 
devil-fish in the " Intellectual Observer," to which I am indebted 
for the present notice of this curious creature), it is stated that 
drawing a boat after it with the celerity of a whale when harpooned, 



33* STORIES ABOUT MONSTROUS SKATES. 

it caused a wave to be raised on each side the trough of the sea, \ 
several feet higher than the boat ; that during the scuffle the vast ( 
fins of the fish lashed the sea with such vehemence that the spray ' 
rose to the height of thirty feet, and rained dropping water around ^ 
to the distance of fifty feet, and yet the measurement of this fish 
was only half of those generally seen, being only eighteen feet in \ 
breath. Three pairs of oxen, one horse, and twenty-two men, all 
pulling together, with the surges of the Atlantic to help, could 
barely convey the monster to the dry beach. t 

The monstrous skate said by Pere Labat to have been observed 
by the natives of Guadaloupe, and described as fourteen feet broad, \) 
and ten feet from the head to the commencement of the tail, with 
the tail fifteen feet more, altogether twenty-five feet long, was no ^ 
doubt a kindred species of the devil-fish ; and the monster spoken 
of by the early voyagers as suffocating the pearl-divers in the water, 
and known by the name of Manta, was a similar animal. 

Surprising stories are related of these fishes. Le Vaillant speaks 
of three that he saw in the Atlantic — one so large that it seemed 
fifty or sixty feet wide ; they all three carried each on his horns a i 
white fish about half a yard long, which appeared to be stationed 
there on duty as sentinels, to keep watch for the safety of the i 
"devils," and to guide their movements : that these sentinels passed ' 
over their backs when they rose too high, and repassed under them 
until they descended deeper, disappearing and being seen no more 
for a time, but reappearing and resuming their post as sentinels 
when the fish again ascended to the surface. 

Among other " queer " fish, I may mention the Fishing Frog, or M 
Angler, belonging to the "Wristed" family (so named from the 
prolongation of the wrist-bones, forming a kind of arm, supporting 
the pectoral fin on a kind of hand), and one of the most extra- 
ordinary and repulsive-looking animals that inhabit the deep. 
:< " Let the reader imagine," says Mr. Badham, " a gigantic tadpole k 
blown out to the size of a porpoise (sometimes, indeed, much | 
larger, for Pontoppidan mentions one of twelve feet long, and 
several writers describe individuals of seven feet and upwards), 
with an immense head, and a mouth extending on either side far 



VORACITY OF THE FISHING FROG. 333 

beyond the width of the body, opening to view a capacious den, 
"hagged throughout with hooked and mobile teeth, a triple tier in 
le upper, and an equal number in the lower jaw, the palate, tongue, 
fkuces, pharynx, and far down the throat, glistening with a like dis- 
- play of ivory fangs; unfishy orbs resembling those of the " star- 
gazer" (the " priest-fish," so named from the whites of its eyes looking 
constantly heavenward), planted high in the forehead ; a scaleless 
iskin, which is reeking, cold, and clammy; its surface, from near the 
tail to the corners of the mouth, as crawling with long wriggling 

■ carunculated (fleshy) appendages, like so many worms in agony; 
the flesh " boggy " to the touch, save where it is padded out with 
an enormously distended liver, or just over the branchial (apertures 

* for the passage of water from the gills) cavity; a pantry constantly 
replenished with provisions; add to all these a large pair of Caliban- 
hand-like fins, planted close under the throat; a fierce malevolent 
aspect, and an ungainly mode of wallowing, rather than swimming, 
through the brine, and it will be apparent, even from this very im- 
perfect sketch, that such a fish scarecrow could not fail to arrest 
attention, even had there been no other claim to regard than his 

' portentous ugliness." 

^ Such is an admirable description of this marine monster: Of its 
boldness and voracity many anecdotes are related. A fisherman had 
•hooked a cod-fish, and whilst drawing it up he felt a heavier weight 
attach itself to his line. This proved to be a frog-fish of a large 
size, which he compelled to quit its hold by a heavy blow on the 

k head, leaving its prey still attached to the hook. In another instance 

. one of these fishes had seized a conger eel which had taken the 
hook; but after the latter had been engulfed in the enormous 

Jaws, and perhaps in the stomach, it struggled through the gill- 
aperture of its captor, and in that situation both were drawn up 

> together. 

" I have been told," says Mr. Couch, " of its swallowing a large 
ball of cork employed as a buoy to a bulter or deep-sea line. These 

J fishes sometimes abound, and a fisherman who informed me of the 
circumstance noticed seven of them at one time on the deck of a 

7* trawl-boat." 



334 ORIGIN OF THE TERM "ANGLER* 

It hats also been stated that when this fish is captured in a net, 
its rapacious appetite is not in the least diminished, but it general] 
devours some of its fellow-prisoners. ] 

The sea-frog, as it can live longer out of water than most other 
fish, is said to pass some of its time on shore. The naturalist,' 
Rondolet, tells a curious story of one being found on land holding 
a fox fast by the leg. The cunning quadruped, outreached for 
once by a fish, had put his foot into the mouth of the sea-frog, 
who, instantly closing upon it, held it fast as in a trap till next 
morning, when Rondolet surprised them in this strange position. 

The name of " angler" given to this singular fish is derived from 
its habit of crouching close to the ground, and stirring up with its 
fins the sand or mud. In the obscurity thus produced the animal l 
moves its appendages, tentacles or feelers, in various directions, by 4 
way of attracting asV'baitY and 4hQ\ small fishes approaching to j 
examine or seize them are soon conveyed to the capacious jaws of - 
the angler. Nature has added to this provision for obtaining food, 
inasmuch as a filament shooting up close to the upper lip of the 
fish carries upon its extremity a little membrane or flag, of brilliant 
metallic lustre, which, it is supposed, the angler uses as a means of 
alluring its prey ; and the relative position of the flag, the eye, and ^ 
the mouth favour such a purpose. The upper part of the body is \ 



urowii, liiciimijg lu uubKy, cuiu uic iuwci pciiib cue wmie. nie sea- > 

frog is common in the Northern Ocean and the Mediterranean ; it 
is also taken sometimes on the British coasts. 

In the chapter on the " Monarchs of the Ocean')" I have alluded j 
to the Saw-fish and the Sword-fish as formidable enemies to the ! 
whale ; but it is not merely on their fellow-inhabitants of the deep 
that these powerful fishes exercise their aggressive propensities. H 
Some singular instances are related of their attacking even the | 
" wooden walls " that glide tranquilly through their watery domain.^ 

Captain Wilson, of the Halifax packet, states : 

" Being in the Gulf of Paria, in the ship's cutter, I fell in with a 
Spanish canoe, manned by two men, then in great distress, who jj 
requested me to save their lines and canoe, with which request I f 
immediately complied; and going alongside for that purpose I dis- 
S 



^w^ &'- 







Q 

O 



Q 
W 

u 






VIOLENCE OF THE SAW-FISH. 335 

covered that they had got a large sawfish entangled in their turtles 
net, which was towing them out to sea, and but for my assistance 
they must have lost either their canoe or their net, or perhaps both, 
which were their only means of subsistence. Having only two boys 
with me at the time in the boat, I desired them to cut the fish 
away, which they refused to do. I then took the bight of the net 
from them, and with the joint endeavours of themselves and my 
boat's crew, we succeeded in hauling up the net, and to our astonish- 
ment, after great exertions, we raised the " saw " of the fish about 
eight feet above the surface of the sea. It was a fortunate circum- 
stance that the fish came up with the belly towards the boat, or it 
would have cut the boat in two. 

" I had abandoned all idea of taking the fish, until, by great good 
luck, it made towards the land, when I made another attempt, and 
having about three hundred feet of rope in the boat, we succeeded 
in making a running bowline-knot round the saw of the fish, and 
this we fortunately made fast on shore. When the fish found itself 
secured, it plunged so violently that I could not prevail on any one 
to go near it; the appearance it presented was truly awful. I 
immediately went alongside the Lima packet, Captain Singleton, 
and got the assistance of all his ship's crew. By the time they 
arrived the fish was less violent. We hauled upon the net again, in 
which it was still entangled, and got another three hundred feet of 
line made fast to the saw, and attempted to haul it towards the 
shore ; but although mustering thirty hands, we could not move it 
an inch, By this time the negroes belonging to Mr. Danglad's 
estate came flocking to our assistance, making together about one 
hundred in number, with the Spaniards. We then hauled on both 
ropes for nearly the day, before the fish became exhausted. On 
endeavouring to raise the fish it became most desperate, sweeping 
with its sword from side to side, so that we were compelled to get 
strong ropes to prevent it from cutting us to pieces. After that, 
one oi the Spaniards got on its back, and at great risk cut through 
the joint of the tail, when animation was completely suspended. 
It was then measured, and found to be twenty-two feet long and 
eight feet broad, and weighed nearly five tons." 



336 PRODIGIOUS STRENGTH OF THE SWORD-FISH 

An East Indiaman was attacked by a sword-fish with such 
prodigious force as to drive its " snout " completely through the 
bottom of the ship, and must have been destroyed by the leak had , 
not the animal been killed by the violence of its own exertions, 
and the sword remaining embedded in the wood. A fragment of 
this vessel, with the sword fixed firmly in it, is preserved as a cu- 
riosity in the British Museum. 

Several instances of a similar character have occurred, and one 
formed the subject of an action in the courts of law so recently as 
1868, brought against an insurance company for damages sustained 
by a vessel from the attack of one of these fishes. It seems the 
"Dreadnought," a first-class mercantile ship, left a foreign port in 
perfect repair, and on the afternoon of the third day a " monstrous 
creature " was seen sporting among the waves, and lines and hooks 
were thrown overboard to capture it. All efforts to this effect, 
however, failed : the fish got away, and in the night-time the vessel 
was reported to be dangerously leaking. The captain was com- 
pelled to return to the harbour he had left, and the damage was 
attributed to a sword-fish, twelve feet long, which had assailed the 
ship below water-line, perforated her planks and timbers, and thus 
imperilled her existence on the ocean. 

Professor Owen, the distinguished naturalist, was called to give 
evidence on this trial as to the probability of such an occurrence, 
and he related several instances of the prodigious strength of the 
" sword." It strikes with the accumulated force of fifteen double- 
handed hammers ; its velocity is equal to that of a swivel shot, and 
it is as dangerous in its effects as a heavy artillery projectile would 
be. 

Oppian describes the sword-fish when attacked : 

" He summons to his instant aid 
The oft-tried prowess of his trusty blade ; 
Selects some boat, and runs his puissant sword 
Full many an inch within the fatal board." 




CHAPTER XXVI. 

BEAU TIF UL FIS HE S. 

" Shoals 
Of fish that with their fins and shining scales 
Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft 
Bank the mid-sea; 

Or, sporting with quick glance, 
Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold." 

J N remarking upon beautiful fishes, it would be quite out 
of the limits of a small publication like the present toi 
attempt more than a bare mention of a few species of] 
the ocean inhabitants which possess, in a special degree, the attri- 
butes to which this term may be applied. Among the most promi- 
nent of beautiful fishes is the Dolphin, which, however, belongs to 
an extensive family, including the porpoise, grampus, &c, and 
animals which, on account of their large size, are commonly called 
whales. The Atlantic species of the dolphin (the Exqaisitis of 
Linnaeus) exhibits the general form of these fishes, and their 
colouring, so remarkable for the variation of its tints ; a play of 
vivid green and gold and silver being spread over it in various 
lights, and changing as it dies. 

" Parting day ;; 

Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang embues 
"With a new colour as it gasps away, 
The last still loveliest till 'tis gone — and all is grey." 

Falconer, in the " Shipwreck," thus describes the death of the 
dolphin after it has been struck by the harpooner : 

23 



338 CHANGING COLOURS OF THE DOLPHIN. 

" On deck he struggles with convulsive pain ; 
But while his heart the fatal javelin thrills, 
And fleeting life escapes in sanguin'd rills, 
What radiant changes strike th' astonished sight 
"With glowing hues of mingled shade and light 1 
No equal beauties gild the lucid West, 
With parting beams o'er all profusely drest ; 
No lovelier colours paint the vernal dawn, 
When Orient dews impearl th' enamelled lawn, 
Than from his sides in bright suffusion flow, 
That now with gold empyreal seem to glow, 
Now in pellucid sapphires meet the view, 
And emulate the soft celestial hue, 
Now beam a flaming crimson to the eye, 
And now assume the purple's deeper dye. 
But here description clouds each shining ray ; 
What terms of art can Nature's power display ? n 

There are, however, many other fish that change colour before 
they die. " I have seen," remarks Mr. Adams, " species of the 
cat-fish change from a warm and glowing smalt during the last 
pangs to a dull leaden hue, losing at the same time the delicate 
pinky tinge of the sides and abdomen. The common sucking-fish, 
from a brown, bright, shining, blackish colour, changes even in the 
water to a leaden hue, and as it dies assumes a tan-colour, which 
grows paler by degrees and turns to a dingy white." 

When swimming near the surface of the water, and glittering 
beneath the light of a cloudless sky, the dolphins appear clothed 
in the richest gold, and to have the starry lustre of the topaz and 
sapphire. Two species have been named, from the variety and 
vividness of their tints, the " sea-peacock " and the " blue-fish." 

The true dolphin has the snout prolonged into a rather slender 
beak, whence the French have applied to it the name of "the 
goose of the sea." It was very differently regarded and designated 
by the ancients, who looked upon it as a sacred fish, and dedicated 
it to Apollo, who was worshipped at Delphi with dolphins for his 
symbols. The name is given to one of the fairest provinces of 
France — Dauphiny, from which the heir-apparent of the throne 
formerly derived his title of " Dauphin." 

Wondrously beautiful, indeed, are these gay inhabitants of the 



DOLPHINS IN PURSUIT OF FLYING-FISHES. 339 

seas, especially when seen playing and springing from the water, 
when they assume the curved shape that is not natural to them, 
but which old painters and sculptors have always given them : 

" Upon the swelling waves the dolphins show 
Their bending backs, then swiftly darting go, 
And in a thousand wreaths their bodies throw." 

They are, however, very voracious animals, and are said to prey 
not only on other fishes, but their own species. The flying-fish 
in particular comes in for a share of their pursuit. Captain Basil 
Hall gives a vivid description of their operations : 

" Shortly after observing a cluster of flying-fish rise out of the 
water, we discovered two or three dolphins ranging past the ship 
in all their beauty, and watched with some anxiety to see one of 
those aquatic chases of which our friends, the Indiamen, had been 
telling such wonderful stories. We had not long to wait, for the 
ship, in her progress through the water, soon put up another shoal 
of these little things, which, as the others had done, took their flight 
directly to windward. A large dolphin, which had been keeping 
company with us abreast of the weather gangway, at the depth of 
two or three fathoms, and, as usual, glistening most beautifully in 
the sun, no sooner detected our poor dear little friends take wing 
than he turned his head towards them and, darting to the surface, 
leaped from the water with a velocity little short, as it seemed, of a 
cannon-ball. But, although the impetus with which he shot him- 
self into the air gave him an initial velocity greatly exceeding that 
of the flying-fish, the start which his fated prey had got enabled 
them to keep ahead of him for a considerable time. 

" The length of the dolphin's first spring could not be less than 
ten yards, and after he fell we could see him gliding like lightning 
through the water for a moment, when he again rose and shot for- 
wards with considerably greater velocity than at first, and, of course, 
to a still greater distance. In this manner the merciless pursuer 
seemed to stride along with fearful rapidity, while his brilliant coat 
sparkled and flashed in the sun quite splendidly.. As he fell headlong 
on the water at the end of each huge leap, a series of circles were 
sent far over the the still surface, which lay as smooth as a mirror, 

22 *~8 



340 THE DOLPHIN A SEA "SPORTSMAN* 

" The group of wretched flying-fish, thus hotly pursued, at length 
dropped into the sea; but we were rejoiced to observe that they 
merely touched the top of the swell, and scarcely sank in it ; at 
least, they instantly set off again in a fresh and more vigorous 
flight. It was particularly interesting to observe that the direction 
they now took was quite different from the one in which they had 
set out, implying but too obviously that they had detected their 
fierce enemy, who was following them with giant steps on the waves, 
and now gaining rapidly upon them. His terrific pace was, indeed, 
two or three times as swift as theirs, poor little things ! 
, " The greedy dolphin, however, was fully as quick-sighted as the 
flying-fish which were trying to elude him, for whenever they varied 
their flight in the smallest degree, he lost not the tenth part of a 
second in shaping a new course, so as to cut off the chase; whilst 
they, in a manner really not unlike that of the hare, doubled more 
than once on their pursuer. But it was soon too plainly to be seen 
that the strength and confidence of the flying-fish were fast ebbing. 
Their flights became shorter and shorter, and their course more 
fluttering and uncertain, while the enormous 4eaps of the dolphin 
appeared to grow more vigorous at each bound. Eventually, in- 
deed, we could see, or fancied that we could see, that this skilful 
sea-sportsman arranged all his springs with such an assurance of 
success that he contrived to fall at the end of each just under the 
very spot on which the exhausted flying-fish were about to drop. 
Sometimes this catastrophe took place at too great a distance for us 
to see from the deck exactly what happened; but on our mounting 
high into the rigging, we may be said to have been in at the death, 
for then we could discover that the unfortunate little creatures, one 
after another, either popped right into the dolphin's jaws as they 
lighted on the water, or were snapped up instantly afterwards. 

" It was impossible not to take an active part with our pretty little 
friends of the weaker side, and accordingly we very speedily had 
our revenge. The middies and the sailors, delighted with the 
chance, rigged out a dozen or twenty lines from the jibboom-end 
"and spritsail-yard-arms, with hooks baited merely with bits of tin, 
the glitter of which blesso resem much that of the body and wings 



BEAUTY OF SEA-BREAMS AND GILT-HEADS. 341 

of the flying-fish that many a proud dolphin, making sure of a deli- 
cious morsel, leaped in rapture at the glittering prize." 

The dolphin, however, in turn becomes the prey of other fishes, 
and especially of the Fox-Shark, or Sea-Fox as it is sometimes 
called, a genus of sharks containing only one known species, be- 
longing to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, and occasion- 
ally seen on our own coasts. This powerful fish attains a length 
of thirteen feet, including the tail-fin, which is remarkably long, 
nearly half the dimensions of the animal, and which, as a weapon 
of offence, is very formidable. The furious lashing of this appen- 
dage has obtained for this fish the popular name of " thresher." 
A whole herd of dolphins will take flight at the first splash of this 
tail, and even the grampus, the largest of the dolphin family, and, 
it is said, a formidable adversary of the whale, comes off badly in 
an encounter with the fox-shark. 

Some species of the family of Sea-Breams are remarkable for 
their great beauty. The Spanish is very abundant in the Medi- 
terranean, and is sometimes seen on our own coasts. It attains 
the length of about fourteen inches. Its colours, when first taken 
out of the water, are most splendid, being a beautiful red carmine- 
colour on the back, passing to rose-colour on the sides, with a 
silver tinting on the abdomen, and the fins are rose-coloured. 
These lovely hues soon disappear after death, and a sombre yellow 
prevails. 

Nearly allied to this family are the Gilt-heads (so named from a 
half-moon- shaped golden spot between the eyes), inhabitants of 
the warm seas, and very beautiful in colours; the back being a 
deep blackish-blue, the sides yellowish, with golden tints; violet 
and gold being the prevailing decorations. 

The numerous and interesting Mackerel family include many 
species remarkable for rich colouring. The common Mackerel 
itself, which is described in the chapter on " Methods of Fishing," 
is, as you are aware, a very beautiful fish, with its brilliant blue 
and green tints, besides its elegant form. Tne Dory, or John Dory 
as it is popularly called, is said to derive its name from the golden 
tint that prevails over it when taken from the water; jaune % in 



342 THE GLORY OF THE MACKEREL FAMILY. 

French being "yellow," and dor'e, "golden." Along the shores of 
the Mediterranean, where this fish abounds, it is called among 
other names u St. Peter's Fish," from a legend that the apostle ob- 
tained from it the coin to pay the tribute money, and that the im- 
pression of his two fingers marks the species to the present day ; a 
distinction, however, which is claimed also for the haddock. The, 
dory is very common on some parts of our coasts. The prevailing 
colour of the body (which is oval) is an olive-brown tinged with 
yellow, reflecting in different lights blue, gold, and white. When 
the fish is taken, the varying tints of these different colours pass 
in rapid succession over the body. Though flat in form, the fish 
swims erect, and both surfaces being thus equally exposed to the 
light, are alike of a coppery hue. 

The Boar-fish, a relative of the dory, is of inferior pretensions 
as regards shape and colour, the mouth having some resemblance 
to the snout of a hog, which doubtless originated the name. The 
eyes are very large and prominent, and the body of a pale carmine- 
colour, with orange bands on the back. 

But the glory of the Mackerel family, at least, for splendour of 
appearance, is the Ofiah, or King fish, an inhabitant of the seas 
of high northern latitudes, and occasionally found on the British 
coasts, sometimes five feet long and one hundred and fifty pounds 
in weight. The colours are, indeed, magnificent. The whole back 
is of a steel blue, which, on the flanks, becomes rich green, reflect- 
ing in different lights purple and gold, and a lovely rose-colour 
on the abdomen. Numerous oval spots, some milk-white, others 
of a beautiful silvery lustre, adorn this groundwork, while small 
ones ornament the head. The gill-covers are very brilliant, and 
the iris of its large eye is of a beautiful golden colour : all the fins 
are vermilion. 

Among marine members of the Perch family, I may mention the 
Red Mullet as very beautiful in its delicate rose-colour, striped with 
yellow ; which colours, however, soon fade after death. 

" On fish a different fate attends, nor reach they long the shore 
Ere fade their hues like rainbow tints, and soon their beauty's o'er." 

It was one of these mullets which was so celebrated among the 



MULLETS AND SEA-PERCHES. 343 

Romans for the excellency of its flesh, its great beauty, and the 
extravagant prices it brought. In the days of Horace this fish 
was valued in proportion to its size, not because the larger were 
better, but (as happens in the fashionable world frequently in our 
own time) because they were procured with greater difficulty. 
Enormous sums were paid for these fishes. Juvenal tells us, 

"The lavish 
Six thousand pieces for a mullet gave, 
A sesterce for each pound,' ' 

amounting altogether to a sum of nearly fifty pounds of our money, 
whilst, according to Pliny, a consul named Asinius Celer gave a 
sum equal to nearly sixty-five pounds of our English currency for 
a single fish of this kind ; an infatuation we can only feel paral- 
leled by the "tulip mania" of former days. Neither did the ex- 
travagance of these people end even here, for Seneca informs us 
they were so exceedingly fastidious about the freshness of this fish 
that, according to the luxurious habits of those days, rich epicures 
kept aquariums in their dining-rooms, so that the fish could be 
taken out alive under the table : one reason, besides the freshness of 
the fish, being, that the guests might see them change their colours 
when they were dying. In these feasts they revelled over the ex- 
piring mullet, while the bright red colour of health passed through 
various shades of purple, violet, blue, and white, as life gradually 
ebbed and convulsions put an end to the revolting spectacle. They 
also put these devoted fishes into crystal vessels filled with water, 
over a slow fire upon their tables, a refinement of cruelty which 
required an " imperial " Humane Society to see after. 

The Basse or Sea-Perch is an elegant fish, with chaste and pleas- 
ing colours, the upper parts grey with bluish tints shading into 
silvery white; tolerably common on the coasts of the south of 
England during the summer. The armed Enofilessus, another 
member of the Perch family, very abundant in the New Holland 
seas, is remarkable for its chaste colouring, the ground-shade being 
of a silvery grey, relieved by eight narrow black bands, which either 
entirely or in part surround the body. The fins have a yellowish 
tint It is about eight or ten inches in length. The Two-banded 



344 BEAUTIFUL MEMBERS OF THE PERCH FAMILY. 

JDiploprion, an inhabitant of the coast of Java, also claims the 
same relationship : the colours are a fine reddish-yellow, relieved 
by two crossing bands of black ; length of the fish about six inches. 
Another genus is the Mediterranean Apogon, about the same 
length as the last-named fish, but of far more brilliant colours. 
The prevailing hue is a crimson red, paler on the lower parts, with 
three deep black markings. The whole surface of the body is 
covered over with small black spots or dots. 
' To the same extensive family belong the Lettered Seranus^ a 
beautifully-marked fish, found on the coasts of the Mediterranean. 
The general ground-tint of the skin is a reddish-orange, sometimes 
inclining to olive, and shading to a pale tint on the lower parts. 
The back is banded, as in the perch, with dull brown bands, but 
the most showy marks are the narrow irregular lines of rich blue 
which run on the nose below the eyes and on the cheeks, which 
assume the form of written characters (hence the name "lettered"). 
The ground-colour of the fins is grey, spotted sometimes with red- 
dish-orange, and sometimes with purple. The Spined Seranus, 
belonging also to the warm seas, is of a brilliant red or scarlet, 
which on the sides assumes a golden tint, and on the belly becomes 
pale or almost silvery. Upon the sides of the head are three bands 
of golden yellow, and on the forehead are bands of bronzed green : 
the fins are tinted with red and yellow. This fish in length is gene- 
rally from five to seven inches. 

The Beautiful Flectropoma, also of the Perch family, merits its 
name from the lovely colours it exhibits. This fish inhabits the 
tropical seas, and some species are unusually lovely. The ground- 
tint of the body is olive, crossed by six bands of olive black. A 
line of blue surrounds the orbit ; the fins are tinted with olive and 
yellow, the pectorals sometimes with a delicate rose-colour. This 
fish is about four or five inches in length. A formidable rival in 
point of beauty, however, is the One-spotted Mesoprion, of the same 
family, a native of the American seas, and as remarkable for the 
elegance of its form (length about fourteen inches) as the richness 
and lustre of the colouring. The back, upper part of the head, and 
cheeks are of a rich steel blue, the lower part of the cheeks &nci 



CURIOUS INSTINCT OF THE ARCHER-FISHES. 545 

sides of a rich rose-colour, and the belly silvery ; the whole body 
is striped with seven or eight bands of a golden colour. The dorsal 
fin has three yellow bands on a rose-coloured ground, and the 
others are gamboge yellow. The colouring is subject to a consider- 
able variety in tint, from golden orange to silvery. The Golden- 
tailed Mesoprion is of similar richness. 

What is called the " Scaly-finned " family of fishes is a large one, 
containing about one hundred and fifty species, most of which, 
however, frequent the Indian and Polynesian seas, and are con- 
spicuous for their splendid colouring. It has been observed that 
if the " feathered " tribes of the warm regions are bedecked with 
the most brilliant and gorgeous hues, the neighbouring oceans con- 
tain myriads of the finny race which in this respect excel them. 
Upon the first of the three groups of this family especially, Nature 
has most profusely lavished these splendid ornaments. The purple 
of the iris, the richness of the rose, the azure blue of the sky, the 
darkest velvet black, and many other hues are seen commingled 
with metallic lustre over the pearly surface of the resplendent 
group, which, habitually frequenting the rocky shores at no great 
depth of water, are seen to sport in the sunbeams as if to exhibit 
to advantage their gorgeous dress. 

In the chapter on " Submarine Scenery " I have described the 
Choetodon (from the Greek ched, " I contain/ 7 and odontus, u a tooth,") 
one of the most beautiful of this family of fishes. Another animal 
ranged with the " scaly-fins " is the Archer, a fish about six or eight 
inches in length, which, when it perceives a fly or other winged 
insect hovering over the surface or settled on a twig, propels 
against it with considerable force a drop of liquid from its mouth, 
so as to drive it into the water ; in attacking an insect at rest, it 
usually approaches cautiously, and very deliberately takes its aim. 
It is said to be an amusement with the Chinese in Java to keep 
this fish in confinement in a large vessel of water, in order that 
they may witness its dexterity. They fasten a fly or other insect 
to the side of the vessel, when the fish aims at it with such pre- 
cision that it rarely misses its mark. This Javanese fish is called 
the Qhelmon rostratus, Another genus — the Toxotus jaculatch- 



346 THE BANNER AND BUTTERFLY-FISHES. 

shoots its watery deluge to the height of three or four feet, and 
strikes with unerring aim the insect attacked. 

" The family of the ' Riband-shaped Fish ' includes," says Mr. 
Swainson, "the most singular and extraordinary fishes in creation. 
The form of the body when compared to fishes better known is 
much like that of the eel, the length being in the same propor- 
tion as the breadth; but then it is so much compressed that 
these creatures have obtained the popular name of ' riband-fish/ 
'lath ' or 'deal-fish.' The body, indeed, is often not thicker, except 
in its middle, than is a sword ; and being covered with the richest 
silver, and of great length, the undulating motion of these fishes 
in the sea must be resplendent and beautiful beyond measure. 
But these wonders of the mighty deep are almost hidden from the 
eye of man. These meteoric fishes appear to live in the greatest 
depths, and it is only at long intervals and after a succession of 
tempests that a solitary individual is cast on the shore, with its 
delicate body torn and mutilated by the elements on the rocks." 

According to this authority, the Mediterranean has hitherto pro- 
duced the largest proportion of this small family; but it is dis- 
tributed from the Arctic regions to the sunny shores of India. 
The Onion-fish, whose body peels into flakes like that bulb, the 
delicate soft Banner-fish, and the beautiful Scabbard-fish, all belong 
to this family. The length of the latter splendid species is some- 
times not less than five feet. We may conceive a large and broad 
riband of silver swimming with undulatory motion through the 
water, and in its progress shedding the most beautiful shining 
reflections. The iris is the colour of silver, and the fins are trans- 
parent or yellowish-grey. 

The Goby family include some very beautiful fishes. The 
Gemmous Dragonet, so named from the brilliance of its colours, is 
one of the finest of its species. The prevailing hue is orange; 
the back and cheeks have bright lilac spots, bordered with violet ; 
the dorsal fins are orange, beautifully striped, and spotted with 
lilac, violet, and black. This fish is about a foot in length, and is 
not an unfrequent visitor to our coasts. 

The Ocellated Blenny, or Butterfiy-fish, belonging to a section of 



THE "OLD WIVES OF THE SEA? 347 

the Goby family, is remarkable for the singular appearance of its 
ornamented dorsal fin. It attains the length of six inches, and 
abounds in the Mediterranean. The general colour is pale brown, 
with patches of reddish-brown ; the spot on the dorsal fin is of 
a dark red-brown colour, with a slight indication of light brown 
around it. 

The family of the "Wrasses," or " Old Wives of the Sea" — as 
they are commonly called — include some very beautiful species, 
and are distinguished by their elegant, regular, and oval form. 
The Rai?ibow is remarkable for the beauty of its colouring, as the 
name would imply : it is the ornament of the markets on the 
coasts of the Mediterranean, for the various colours of the fish do 
not yield in their brilliancy and beauty to the most lovely fishes 
of tropical seas. The summit of the head and back is of a rich 
brown, mixed with blue and red ; beneath this brilliant tint there 
is a broad band, with a denticulated margin of orange red ; below 
this band, and at the origin of the gill-ray, the middle portion of 
the side is coloured by a deep blue band. This marking extends 
to near the tail in a band of ultramarine blue. An ultramarine 
streak of the loveliest hue arises at the angle of the mouth, crosses 
the cheek, and is prolonged in fainter hues along the inferior border 
of the deep blue marking of the side. The dorsal fin is of an olive- 
colour, mixed with red, having the margin light blue. 

These beautiful fishes frequent rocky shores which are covered 
with marine vegetation. 

The Parrot-fish belongs to this numerous family, deriving its 
name partly from a fancied resemblance in their jaws to a parrot's 
bill. These fishes are remarkable for their brilliant colours, some 
of them being of wonderful splendour. One species, found in the 
Mediterranean, is supposed to be the famous Scarus of the ancients, 
of whose ruminating powers extraordinary accounts have been re- 
lated. Oppian speaks of the scarus as frequenting rocks covered 
with sea-weed, and assigns to it the possession of a voice : 

" Here scarus dwells, the only kind that dare 
To form shrill sounds, and strike the trembling air. 
To pensive silence doom'd, no other £§h 



348 RUMINATING FISHES. 

Can speak his wants or tell his secret wish. 

Thrice o'er their food the wanton scams eat, 

With pleasure the luxurious toil repeat ; < ' • 

Like sheep on grassy meads, or fatt'ning kine, 

They chew the cud, and on the taste refine. " 

It is well known that some fishes possess a power identical with 
rumination : carp, tench, and bream afford the best evidence of 
this action. The Goldsinny, another member of the Wrasse family, 
a fish from four to seven inches, is strikingly beautiful, being of a 
rich pink or rose-colour, intermixed on the sides with golden 
yellow, with darker transverse bands on the back; the fins rosy 
pink mixed with yellow. 

Another finny brilliant is the Wrasse Rock-fish, in form something 
like a perch, with the back more straight : the colours are generally 
very vivid, especially those of tropical seas. The Ballan Wrasse 
is common on the rocky coasts of our country, and attains a length 
of about eighteen inches. It is bluish-green, and all the scales 
margined, more or less broadly, with orange red. 

" Nature/'. observes a French naturalist, " has not conferred upon 
the fishes of this family either strength or power, but they have 
received as their share of her favours, agreeable proportions, great 
activity of fin, and are adorned with all the colours of the rainbow." 

The family of the i( Pipe-mouthed fishes " (characterized, as the 
name implies, by a tubular muzzle) has an attractive representa- 
tive in the Trumpet-fish, or Sea-Snipe, a remarkable-looking fish, 
not uncommon in the Mediterranean, but a rare visitor on our 
coasts. The colour of the back is red, that of the sides being 
rather lighter ; the sides of the head are of a silvery hue, tinged 
with a golden colour; all the fins are greyish-white. The young 
are seen near the shore in autumn, shining with a brilliant silvery 
lustre, not having as yet acquired the golden-red hue of the adult 
fish. The sea-snipe is small, not extending beyond a few inches. 

To this same family (the pipe-fishes) belongs the Hippocampus, 
or Sea-horse, which is, perhaps, more remarkable for the singularity 
of its form—the upper parts having some resemblance to the head 
apd neck of a horse in miniature (hence its name, from the GreeH 



THE "GOLD AND SILVER FISH" OF NORWAY. 349 

fypos, a "horse," and kamfie, "crookedness") — than for any orna- 
ment or colour, although these are not wanting. The singularity 
of this fish is in the shape and disposition of the plates on the tail, 
which are such as to admit, of its being easily curved inwards, and 
by the aid of which the animal twists itself around the stems of 
marine plants, waiting in that position with its head free, ready to 
dart at any passing object which it desires to make its prey. 
|j For beauty of colouring, irrespective of shape and other repulsive 
peculiarities, I may mention the Chimcera } or Rabbit-fish, an animal 
little known, as it frequents the deep recesses of the ocean, and 
is only an occasional visitant of our coasts. In Norway, however, 
it is more common, and receives the name of "gold and silver 
fish," from the resplendent colours which form the ground of the 
body, set off by dark spots. It is also called by the Norwegians 
the " sea-rat," from the form of the tail, and " king-fish," from a 
thready filament, terminating in a tuft, which is found on the head 
of the male. The colours are very beautiful : the upper parts dark 
brown, varied with yellowish-brown and silvery; the lower parts 
bright silver; the eyes large, green, and brilliantly lustrous, so 
much so, that the Mediterranean fishermen called this fish the 
" cat." The form of the fish does not correspond with the vivid 
colours I have mentioned, the repulsive shape of the head, and 
the rat-like tail, giving it an appearance somewhat allied to sea- 
monsters. 

In concluding these brief notices of a few out of the multitude 
of beautiful fishes which give a charm and loveliness to the element 
in which they live, I would have you remember that these works 
of a beneficent Creator are intended to raise our thoughts in reve- 
rent admiration to that Holy Being, who made all things for our 
comfort and delight : 

" Beauty was lent to nature as the type 
Of heaven's unspeakable and holy joy, 
Where all perfection makes the sum of bliss." 

"The inhabitant of the waters, generally speaking, knows no 
attachments, has no language, no affections; feelings of conju- 
gality or paternity are not acknowledged by him ; ignorant of the 



3?o THE SPLENDOUR OF CERTAIN FISHES. 

, _ _____ — i» 

art of constructing an asylum, in danger he seeks shelter beneath 
the rocks or in the darkness of the deep ; his life is silent and 
monotonous. The cravings of voracity alone influence his instinct 
sufficiently to teach him some kind of obedience in his movements 
to external signs. Although so small a share of enjoyment and in- 
telligence is their lot, fish are, nevertheless, adorned by the hand 
of Nature with every kind of beauty : variety in their forms, ele- 
gance in their proportions, diversity and vivacity in their colours — 
nothing is wanted to attract the attention of nian, and indeed it seems 
as if that attention was the principal object Nature wished to excite. 
The splendour of every metal, the blaze of every gem, glitter on 
their surface ; iridescent colours, breaking and reflecting in bands, 
in spots, in angles, or in undulating lines, always regular, sym- 
metrical, graduating or contrasting, but always with admirable 
effect and harmony, flashing over their sides : for whom else have 
they received such gifts, they who at most can barely perceive each 
other in the twilight of the deep; and if they could see distinctly, 
what species of pleasure could they receive from such combine* 
.ions?" 




I. 




CHAPTER XXVII. 

TREASURES RECOVERED FROM THE OCEAN. 

"What wealth untold 
Far down, and shining through their stillness, lies ! 
Thou hast the starry gems, the burning gold, 
Won from ten thousand royal argosies ! " 

Hemans. 




HAT an immense mass of treasures have been sunk 
during various ages in the depths of the ocean ! Year 
after year the loss of richly-freighted vessels have added 
to the prodigious stores of buried wealth, and it would be impos- 
sible to calculate in any degree the riches which have been thus 
lost to the world. 

Shakspere, in describing the dream of the hapless Duke of 
Clarence, a prisoner in the Tower, thus alludes to these submarine 

spoils : 

** Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks, 
A thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon, 
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, 
Inestimable stores, unvalued jewels, 
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea. 
Some lay in dead men's skulls ; and in those holes 
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept 
(As if in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems, 
That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep, 
And mocked the dead bones that lay scatter'd by." 

During the recent wars of our country, the navies of the Conti- 
nental powers, Spain, France, and Denmark, were almost annihi- 



352 ENORMOUS RICHES LOST AT SEA. 

lated, and our own losses amounted to an enormous sum, a large 
number of stately vessels being battered to pieces and consigned 
to the bottom of the deep. 

" In every one of these ships/' observes Sir Charles Lyell, 
"were batteries of cannon constructed of iron and brass. In 
each ship were coins of copper, silver, and often many of gold, 
capable of serving as valuable historical monuments ; in each were 
an infinite variety of instruments of the arts of war and peace, 
many formed of materials, such as glass and earthenware, capable 
of lasting for indefinite ages, when once removed from the me- 
chanical action of the waves, and buried under a mass of matter 
which may exclude the corroding action of sea-water." 

But the dangers of naval warfare, however great, may be exceeded 
by the storm, the hurricane, the shoals, and other perils of the deep. 
Numbers of richly-freighted vessels have thus perished. " Millions 
of coin have been sometimes submerged in a single ship, and on 
these — when they happen to be enveloped in a matrix capable 
of protecting them from chemical changes — much information of 
historical interest will remain inscribed, and endure for periods 
indefinite. In almost every large ship, moreover, there are some 
precious stones set in seals, and other articles of use and ornament, 
composed of the hardest substances in nature, on which letters and 
various images are carved — engravings which they may retain when 
included in subaqueous strata as long as a crystal preserves its 
natural form." Such are some amongst the rich and curious objects 
which the ocean retains, or, at some future period, in a manner that 
we cannot foresee, may be reclaimed. 

The mind of man — always fertile in expedients — has been en- 
gaged from very remote times in recovering spoils from the ocean. 
The H . diving-bell " — the original rude notion of which dates from 
the first half of the sixteenth century — is not the earliest intimation 
of means used for the recovery of ocean " spoils." The ancient 
"divers," as we learn from classic writers, were wonderfully expert 
in their vocation ; and in remote ages they were kept in ships to 
assist in raising anchors, and goods thrown overboard in times ot 
danger; and by the laws of the Rhodians they were allowed a share 



EARLY EMPLOYMENT OP THE DIVLNG-BELL. 353 

of a wreck proportioned by the depth to which they had gone in 
search of it. In the latter part of the seventeenth century the 
diving-bell was employed in the recovery of lost treasure. At the 
overthrow of the Armada in 1588, some of the Spanish ships were 
sunk near the Isle of Mull, on the western coast of Scotland, with 
an immense amount of riches. Several attempts were made to re- 
cover this wealth; the resuL, however, was merely productive in 
obtaining a few cannons. 

One of the most curious efforts of this kind, in after-years, led to 
the founding of a noble family, the representative of which is the 
present Marquis of Normanby. William Phipps, the son of a black- 
smith, was born in America in 1650. His father was James Phipps, 
who had been a working gunsmith at Bristol. At the age of 
eighteen, young Phipps bound himself for four years to a ship- 
carpenter at Boston, and soon mastered the art, and established 
himself as a ship-builder. At length he took to trading, and made 
a voyage to the Bahamas, where he had heard that a Spanish ship 
had been wrecked with great treasure on board. He appears to 
have been partially succeessful in recovering some of the valuables, 
for he was enabled to make a voyage to England. He had obtained 
information that there was somewhere in the neighbourhood of the 
Bahamas another Spanish wreck, " wherein was lost a mighty trea- 
sure hitherto undiscovered ; " and having a strong impression on 
his mind that he was destined to be the discoverer, he hoped to be 
able to persuade some persons of wealth in England to advance 
the necessary funds, and, although comparatively unknown, to get 
himself appointed to conduct the search under a commission from 
the Government. \ 

The plan seemed so plausible that Charles II. gave him a ship, 
and furnished him with everything for the undertaking. In the 
11 Algier Rose," a frigate of eighteen guns and ninety-five men, he 
set sail, and arrived at New England. He sought for the sunken 
treasure in vain ; but I must tell you that Phipps was a man of no 
ordinary character, or he could not have eventually achieved his 
wonderful success. No difficulties turned him from the object 01 
his pursuit. Once his men, despairing of the undertaking, rose in 



354 ADVENTURES OF WILLIAM PHIPPS. 

mutiny, and assembling on the quarter-deck with drawn swords, 
demanded that he should join with them in running away with the 
ship, and take to piracy, which was at that time a fashionable mania 
with loose seamen, who delighted especially in the buccaneering 
pleasures of the South Seas. Phipps, like every great mind, saw 
at once the necessity for prompt action, and being a powerful man, 
he rushed in amongst them, buffeting some with his fists, and even- 
tually reducing the whole to submission. He had, however, an 
obstinate set to manage, and so resolved to return to England, 
though convinced that the " spoils of the ocean " were still to be 
had. He endeavoured to obtain another vessel from James II., 
avIio was then on the throne, but as he failed in this, he opened a 
subscription for private assistance. At first he was laughed at, but 
at length the Duke of Albemarle, son of the celebrated General 
Monk, took part in it, and advanced a considerable sum, to enable 
him to make the necessary preparations for a new voyage. 

Phipps soon collected the remainder, and in 1687 set sail in a 
ship of two hundred tons burthen, to try his fortune once more, 
having previously engaged to divide the profit according to the 
twenty shares of which the subscription consisted. On arriving at 
the spot, the banks of Bahama, on the north side of Hispaniola, 
where he felt persuaded the sunken treasure lay, he employed the 
various instruments he had invented for submarine descent (amongst 
others, the diving-bell is traditionally ascribed to him), but, at first, 
without success. He had brought a tender with him, and at Port 
de la Plata had had a large cotton tree hollowed out into a canoe. 
This and the tender were now anchored in the neighbourhood oi 
Hie shoals, which were known by the name of the " Boilers," and 
irose to within two or three feet of the surface of the water. For 
a long time the men sent in the canoe could make nothing of all 
" their peeping into the boilers," but at length one of them, looking 
down into the calm water, perceived a plant or weed, called a 
" sea-feather," growing, as he thought, out of the rock, and desired 
one of the Indians to dive and fetch it up, that they might not 
return to their master empty handed. The diver, bringing up the 
feather, reported that he had seen a large number of great guns in 



kECOVERY OF SUNKEN TREASURES. 355 

the water. On further diving, the man brought up a lump of silver, 
worth from two to three hundred pounds. The story goes on to 
say that the men fixed a buoy to mark the spot where the discovery 
was made, and returning to the ship, slipped the mass of silver 
under the table at which they sat down with the captain, who at 
length saw it, and cried with some " agony," " Why, what is this ? 
Whence comes it ? " And then, with changed countenances, they 
told him how and where they got it. " Then/' said Phipps, " thanks 
be to God : we are made ! " 

I All hands now set to work vigorously, and in a short time thirty- 
two tons of silver were raised. Upon much of the coined metal a 
crust like limestone had gathered, several inches thick, which they 
broke open with iron instruments contrived by Phipps for the pur- 
pose, when whole bushels of rusty pieces-of-eight would come tum- 
bling out. There were also great quantities of gold, precious stones, 
and pearls. The treasure thus recovered from the ocean by Phipps 
and his men is stated to have amounted to about three hundred 
thousand pounds sterling; and, provisions failing, they were obliged 
to leave before they had completely rifled the sunken ship, and a 
considerable amount of treasure was obtained by other vessels 
after their departure. 

i On the return of Phipps to England some persons endeavoured 
to persuade the King to seize both the ship and cargo, under the 
pretence that on the project for the expedition sufficiently accurate 
information had not been given, but the King answered that Phipps 
was an honest man, and that he and his friends should share the 
whole among them had he returned with double the value. The 
fortunate adventurer was knighted, and the Duke of Albemarle, 
who was so largely benefited, showed his gratitude by giving him 
a gold cup valued at a thousand pounds. Phipps returned to 
America in 1688, having been appointed Sheriff of New England. 
On his way he made another visit to the sunken treasure-ship, and 
obtained a handsome addition to his fortune. Honours came thick 
upon him. He was appointed Governor of Massachusetts, and 
died in his forty-fifth year in London, in 1693. 
This affair was attended with such good consequences to the 

23—2 



358 THE "ROYAL GEORGE? 

Duke of Albemarle that he obtained from the King the governor- 
ship of Jamaica, in order to try his fortune with other ships sunk 
in that neighbourhood, but nothing came of this. In England 
several companies were formed, and obtained exclusive privileges 
of fishing up goods on certain coasts by means of divers. The 
most considerable of these was that which in 1688 tried its success 
at the Isle of Mull, and at the head of which was the Earl of 
Argyll. The divers went down to the depth of sixty feet under 
water, and brought up gold chains, money, and other articles, 
though of no great value. 

Of the use of the diving-bell in recovering property from wrecks, 
the operations upon that of the " Royal George" afford an example 
which is no doubt well known to you. On 29th August, 1781, this 
magnificent ship of 108 guns, described as the best sailer, carrying 
the tallest masts, the squarest canvas, and the heaviest cannon in 
the service, while under repair at Portsmouth was heeled over too 
much, and water entering the port-holes^ she filled and went dowii 
in three minutes, with all on board — Admiral Kempenfeldt, Cap- 
tain Waghorn, officers, crew, about three hundred women and chil- 
dren who were temporarily on board, guns, ammunition, &c. So 
sudden was the fearful calamity, that a smaller vessel lying along- 
side the " Royal George" was swallowed up in the gulf thus occa- 
sioned. Of eleven hundred souls on board, nine hundred at once 
found a watery grave ; the rest, including the captain (Waghorn), 
escaped. 

Cowper wrote an elegy on this mournful event 1 

."Toll for the brave! 

The brave that are no more ! 
All sunk beneath the wave 
Fast by their native shore." 

The "Royal George" was the subject of many submarine opera- 
tions. During the three months which immediately followed the 
disaster, several divers succeeded in bringing sixteen guns out of 
the ship by means of the diving-bell. In 181 7, after the ship had 
been submerged thirty-five years, it underwent a thorough exami- 
nation by men who descended in a diving-bell. It was found 10 



APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINE EXPLORATIONS. 357 

be little more than a ruinous pile of timber-work, the guns, anchors, 
spars, and masts having fallen into a confused mass among the 
timbers. She was too dilapidated to be raised in a body. In 
1839 General (then Colonel) Pasley devised a mode of discharging 
enormous masses of gunpowder by means of electricity, so as to 
shatter the wreck, and thus afford an opportunity for divers to 
bring up the heavier valuables. The value of the brass guns fished 
up was equal to the whole cost of the operations, and a serious 
obstruction to navigation removed. 

Independently of the valuable native productions which are 
found at the bottom of the sea, such as pearls, corals, sponges, 
&c, the recovery of lost treasures from ships wrecked, makes it 
an object of importance to be able to descend to the bottom, and 
remain there long enough to execute the operations necessary for 
this purpose. But without the assistance of some mechanical appa- 
ratus, it is very little that even the most practised divers can per- 
form. Much ingenuity has been devoted from an early period to 
the contrivance of apparatus for submarine explorations. Machines 
which in some degree included the principle of the diving-bell were 
suggested, contrived, and sometimes used to recover property sunk 
in the sea. At length, in the sixteenth century, the diving-bell 
itself was invented and used, and improvements were subsequently 
made by Dr. Halley, Spalding, Farey, Smeaton, and other eminent 
scientific men, by which persons can remain for a considerable time 
under water. 

The invention of a diving apparatus, however, dates from a much 
more remote period. In 1538 two Greeks are said to have de- 
scended in a machine to the bottom of the sea, in the presence of 
Charles V. It is, however, due to Halley that he invented a ma- 
chine for diving, constructed on the principles of science. It was 
made of wood and covered with lead. The air that was vitiated 
by respiration escaped from the chamber through an air-cock, and 
the pure element was supplied by barrels which descended and 
ascended alternately on both sides of the bell, like buckets into a 
well. These barrels, lined with lead, each contained about thirty- 
six gallons of condensed air, and acted in some measure like twp 



3$8 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DIVING-BELL. 



lateral lungs for the diving-bell, with which they were connected 
by leather tubes. As soon as one of these air-casks was empty 
they let down another of them. Halley himself relates that in 
1721 by the aid of this engine he was able to descend, with four 
other persons, into water sixty feet deep, and to remain there an 
hour and a half. Occasionally the water entered, and threatened 
to invade the interior of the bell : under these circumstances he 
repulsed the enemy by pouring three or four barrels of air on his 
head. On reaching the bottom he opened the air-cock, through 
w T hich the fluid already breathed had to make its escape, and the 
impure air forced its way out with so much violence that the sur- 
face of the sea was quite stirred up and covered with foam. 

The glory of having been the first to apply the diving-bell to the 
works of submarine architecture is due, however, to Smeaton, the 
great engineer, who in 1779 use< ^ & t0 repair the piles of Hexham 
Bridge. He also introduced various alterations in the form and 
appliances. of the apparatus. About 1788 he was the first to con- 
struct a diving-bell of cast iron ; but the peculiar characteristic of 
his machine was the application of the air-pump, which, as it were, 
breathed for the benefit of the divers, freeing them from the ne- 
cessity of personally looking after the supply of the vital fluid. 
This improved diving-bell was afterwards employed by all the 
marine engineers. 

One of the largest diving-bells ever constructed you may have 
seen at the Polytechnic Institution. It is of cast iron, five feet 
high, and weighs three tons : air is supplied to the bell by two air- 
pumps. The principle of the diving-bell will be easily understood 
by floating a piece of lighted candle or a wax match on a cork, 
and then covering it with a tumbler, and pressing it downwards. 
The candle will descend below the level of the surrounding water, 
and continue burning for a short time, although the tumbler is 
completely immersed. This is explained by the air in the tumbler, 
having no vent, remaining in it, and preventing the water from occu- 
pying its place ; so that the cork and candle — though apparently 
under water — are still floating, and surrounded by the air in the 
^urnbler. The candle continues burning until the oxygen of the 



FATAL EXPERIMENTS OF JOHN DAY, 359 

air is exhausted, and then it goes out, as would the life of a man 
under similar circumstances. 

I will relate to you the case of John Day, who perished in 1774 
from an ignorance of these simple facts. This person was a mill- 
wright, and although somewhat ingenious, did not comprehend 
that fresh air is the first necessity of existence. He fancied that 
he had invented a plan by which he could remain below water, at 
any depth and without any communication from the air, for at 
least twenty-four hours, returning to the surface whenever he thought 
proper. His machine was merely a water-tight box or compart- 
ment attached to an old vessel by screws. After entering the 
box, and carefully closing the hole of entrance, the vessel was to 
be sunk, and Day, being provided with a wax taper and watch/' 
would at the time appointed disengage his box from the vessel by 
drawing the screws, and thus rise to the surface. A place in Ply- 
mouth Sound, one hundred and thirty-two feet in depth, having 
been selected, the vessel was towed thither; and Day, provided 
with a bed, a watch, a taper, some biscuits, and a bottle of water, 
entered the box which was to be his tomb. It was then tightly 
closed, according to his directions, and the vessel to which it was 
attached sank to the bottom, from whence neither it nor the un- 
fortunate man ever arose. 

The difference with regard to submarine operations in the diving- 
bell, and a person furnished with the diving-dress, is that the " bell " 
diver is confined by a prison of cast iron and glass, whilst the diver 
in his diving-dress is able to move about just as he pleases at the 
bottom of the sea. It seems that about the year 172 1, one John 
Lethbridge constructed an apparatus somewhat resembling the 
diving-dress of the present day. It was like a cask with two holes 
for the arms, and a glass loophole through which to see all that 
went on in the water. The diver, in order to work, had to lie down 
upon his breast. The modern diving-dress is made of India-rubber 
cloth ; a strong metal helmet, with round pieces of plate-glass in 
front, rests upon a pad on the shoulders; the air is supplied to 
this helmet from above in the same manner as for the diving-bell, 
but instead of the waste air passing out below, a second tube carries 



360 RICHES RECOVERED FROM THE " LUTINE" 

it up. Leaden weights are attached to the side of the diver, and 
thus* he may descend a ladder and walk about below. He carries 
with him one end of a cord communicating with the assistants 
above, and upon pulling this as agreed upon, makes a series of 
signals. The diving apparatus is more adapted even than the 
diving-bell to certain submarine operations. 

By the aid of the diving-bell an enormous amount of treasure 
has been recovered from the depths of the ocean ; and at the pre- 
sent time operations are being carried on in different parts of the 
world with this object. In 1799 the British ship " Lutine," freighted 
with an enormous amount of money, varying from one to two 
millions, foundered off the sand-banks on the north-west coast of 
Holland, and the greater portion of that treasure still lies buried 
with but sixty feet of water over it. The " Lutine " was bound to 
a port in the Zuyder Zee, and a portion of the money on board 
was a subsidy for the English troops who were then serving under 
the Prince of Holland against France. There were also the crown 
jewels of Holland, which had been sent to this country to be reset 
and polished. The ship, in making for the entrance of the Zuyder 
Zee, encountered a fearful storm, was driven on a sand-bank, and 
foundered, all her officers and crew, except one man, perishing. 
The survivor, however, only lived a few hours. He was picked up 
by some Dutch boatmen, who found him floating on some spars, 
and after stating the facts of the dreadful wreck, he died. Nearly 
two hundred persons perished in the ill-fated vessel. After much 
exertion the sunken wreck was discovered lying in sixty feet of 
water, but no attempt was made to recover the sunken treasure for 
one or two years. The Dutch Government offered a reward of 
eight thousand pounds for the recovery of the crown jewels, which, 
with other inducements held out in England, led to a company 
being formed, which commenced operations, and in a few years 
they recovered about one hundred and sixty thousand pounds. 
In addition to this, and within the past few years, another sum of 
twenty thousand pounds has been obtained from the wreck by 
Other companies, and the project of obtaining the whole of the 
missing treasure is not abandoned. 



AMERICAN SUBMARINE COMPANY. 361 

Whitstable, famous for its oysters, has also earned a certain re- 
nown from possessing a diver of particular eminence, John Gann, 
whose amphibious career, extending over many years, is remark- 
able. Among the exploits of this worthy and his " diving " com- 
panions, I may mention the recovery of one hundred thousand 
pounds from the wreck of the " Lady Charlotte," a ship which had 
gone down to the bottom of the sea. The Whitstable divers were 
also at work for some time on the coast of Ireland, in a place where 
a Spanish vessel had sunk, in which they discovered a large number 
of dollars. This money had been originally enclosed in a barrel, 
but the wood had perished at the bottom of the sea, and the hoops 
of the barrel were displaced ; nothing was left but the pieces of 
coin, and these, gathered in a lump, still retained the form of the 
cask. 

An American " Submarine Company " undertook the raising of 
the vessels and other materials sunk by the Russians in the harbour 
of Sevastopol during the Crimean war, and also . dispatched an 
expedition to the Caribbean Sea, to search for the treasures in a 
sunken Spanish frigate, the "San Pedro." According to official 
documents, this vessel when she went down contained a million of 
Spanish dollars and a million and a half in gold. The wreck was 
discovered ; and, after removing a vast amount of deck material, 
the divers penetrated into the deck-room, where they found gun- 
carriages, four magnificent brass cannons, silver dollars, and other 
valuable articles covered with mud. Several gold watches were 
here taken out ; and the divers came to the conclusion that, when 
driven to the forward part of the ship, the bulk of the treasure 
would be found. Here they expended their efforts, and the result 
was the recovery of an immense sum of money, almost equal to 
the amount that was supposed to have been in the vessel. 

During the war of succession in Spain, at the commencement 
of the eighteenth century, England and Holland allied themselves 
with the Emperor of Austria against Louis XIV. of France and 
Philip V. of Spain. The latter powers were in great want of re- 
sources for the prosecution of the war, and were expecting daily a 
fleet of Spanish ships from the Indies, freighted with an enormous} 



&2 TREASURES FROM SUNKEN SPANISH GALLEONS. 

amount of treasures in money, gold and silver ingots, and rich 
merchandise. A French fleet of fifteen vessels left Brest to meet 
the famous "galleons" and escort them as far as Cadiz. The 
united squadrons were seen by the English and Dutch vessels, and 
vigorously pursued into Vigo Bay, 22nd October, 1702, where they 
were so hotly attacked that, the Spanish and French commanders 
determined on burning and sinking the treasure-ships to prevent 
their being taken. The lt Almirante," the Spanish admiral's ship, 
and her consorts, were accordingly sent to the bottom of the ocean 
with all their immense wealth, and have remained immersed in 
the port of a poverty-stricken nation during the whole time of the 
Bourbon occupation. Hardly had the ex-Queen Isabella been 
driven from the throne of Spain, when a Spanish banker long settled 
in Paris made overtures to the government of Madrid for recover- 
ing some of the buried treasures ; and, on condition of handing 
over nearly half of the riches that might be recovered, M. Pe'riere 
was permitted to commence operations. From late accounts it 
6eems that the undertaking has prospered : after nineteen days' 
search made with large diving-bells, the remains of fifteen ships 
were discovered at the depth of a few hundred feet. On knocking 
a hole into the side of the " Alrafrar.ce," some ingots, plate, and 
valuable arms were found by the divers. The further researches 
for these " submarine treasures " will be deeply interesting. 





CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SEA-BIRDS. 

" Watchful and agile, uttering voices wild 
And harsh, yet in accordance with the waves 
Upon the beach, the winds in caverns moaning, 
Or winds and waves abroad upon the water, 
Some sought their food among the finny shoals, 
Swift darting from the clouds, emerging soon, 
With slender captives glittering in their beaks. 
These in recesses of steep crags constructed 
Their eyries inaccessible, and trained 
Their hardy broods to forage in all weathers." 




N the chapter on "Superstitions Connected with the Ocean" 
I have alluded to a few marine birds which are considered 
by seamen as good or evil portents in their passage over 
the ocean. I will now briefly describe some of the more prominent 
sea-birds which perform their part in the economy of nature, and 
derive their chief sustenance from the finny inhabitants of the 
ocean. They constitute a very extensive family all over the world, 
ever on the alert to indulge their fishing propensities, and voracious 
in their appetites; so that the poor fishes, what with numberless foes 
in their own element, with sea-birds continually on the watch to 
prey upon them, together with all the ingenious arts practised by 
man to ensnare them, cannot lead the happy and peaceful life which 
some fanciful writers have imagined them to enjoy. 

Many, many miles out at sea the oceanic birds are seen pursuing 



L 



364 EXCITING SCENES AT THE BREEDING SEASON. 

their predatory instincts, ever restless and untiring, while, nearer 
shore, thousands in summer seek precipitous coasts and headlands 
as breeding stations. 

" Watchful and agile, uttering voices wild 
And harsh, yet in accordance with the waves 
Upon the beach." 

Jn winter others, scarcely less numerous, flock from their more 
northern homes, and fill our bays and marine inlets. 

Le Vaillant describes an interesting spectacle which met his 
gaze after mounting a rock at Saldanha Bay, near the Cape of Good 
Hope. 

"All of a sudden there rose from the whole surface of the island 
an impenetrable cloud, which formed, at the distance of forty feet 
above our heads, an immense canopy, or rather sky, composed of 
birds of every species and of all colours : cormorants, sea-gulls, 
sea-swallows, pelicans, and, I believe, the whole winged tribe of 
that part of Africa, were here assembled. All their voices, mingled 
together and modified according to their different kinds, formed 
such a horrid noise that I was obliged every moment to cover my 
head to give a little relief to my ears. The alarm that we spread 
was so much the more general among the innumerable legions of 
birds as we principally disturbed the females, which were then sitting. 
They had nests, eggs, and young to defend. They were like furious 
harpies let loose against us, and their cries rendered us almost deaf. 
They often flew so near us that they flapped their wings in our 
faces, and, though we fired our pieces repeatedly, we were not able 
to frighten them; it seemed almost impossible to disperse the 
cloud." 

Many of the precipitous rocks and islands of our own country 
present greatly exciting spectacles at the breeding season. Myriads 
of ocean birds, 

* 4 Ranged in figures, wedge their way, 
Intelligent of season, and set forth 
Their airy caravan. High over seas 
Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing 
Easing their flight. The air 
Floats as they pass, fanned by unEtunberjd p!um$$." 



SYMMETRY AND STRENGTH OF SEA-GULLS. 365 

Certainly not the least interesting of marine birds is the Gull 
(Lams), belonging to a very numerous family (Laridcz), which 
includes also the squas, terns, petrels, shearwaters, albatrosses, 
noddies, skimmers, and others, all preying chiefly on fishes and 
mollusca, together with animal garbage of every kind. From the 
latter circumstance BurTon calls the gulls "the vultures of the ocean." 
Several of this family are the most oceanic of all birds, being seen 
hundreds of miles out at sea, apparently unwearied and restless. 
The gulls have very powerful wings, flying with ease against the 
roughest storms. In fine weather they fly high in the air, descending 
with great rapidity to seize the fishes on the surface of the water, or 
diving slightly for herrings and small fish within reach. Their plu- 
mage being close and thick, they are good swimmers. They have a 
close resemblance to the terns, or " sea-swallows," as they are some- 
times called, but the bill is stronger, and the upper mandible much 
more curved towards the end. The symmetry and strength of the 
gulls are remarkable, showing how Nature has adapted them in 
every particular for all the purposes of their predatory instincts. 

" Let the reader," remarks Mr. Frank Buckland, " examine the 
pectoral or breast muscles of the next gull he kills : he will find 
them one solid mass of firm, hard muscle, admirably adapted to 
sustain and work the wings. What models of beauty and lightness 
are those wings ! The bones are composed of the hardest possible 
kind of bone material, arranged in a tubular form, combining the 
greatest possible strength with the greatest possible lightness. If we 
make a section of the wing-bone of a gull, or, better still, of that of 
an albatross, we shall find that it is a hollow cylinder, like a wheat- 
straw ; but, in order to give it still further strength, we see many 
little pillars of bone about the thickness of a needle extending across 
from side to side; these buttress-like pillars are in themselves very 
strong, and do not break easily under the finger. Again, at the top 
of the bone we find two or three holes, which communicate with 
the interior; through these, when the bird is alive, pass tubes, 
which are connected with the lungs ; so that, when the bird starts 
for a flight, he fills his wing and other bones with air, causing them 
to act something like a balloon on each side of him. This explains 



366 CAPACITY OF THE LARGE GULLS. 

one of the chief reasons why man will never be able to fly : his 
arm-bones are filled with marrow, which he cannot by any means 
get rid of, should he be ever so anxious to fly like a bird." 

Some of the larger gulls are very expert in breaking the shells 
of the molluscs on which they feed, by taking them up to a suffi- 
cient height in the air, and dropping them on a rock. Audubon, 
the American naturalist, mentions an instance in which a gull, find- 
ing the shell not broken by the fall, carried it up a second and a 
third time, and dropped it from a loftier height, by which its pur- 
pose was effected. Gulls are able to support hunger for a long 
time. An instance is related of one being kept without food for 
nine days, and yet retained a considerable degree of strength. 
When their prey is before them, they dart at it with such violence 
that they will swallow both bait and hook, and split themselves 
on the point placed by the fisherman under the fish which he pre- 
sents to them. 

The selfishness and rapacity exhibited by some larger members 
of the gull family have been often observed ; the Glaucous is a 
notable instance, and is called by the Dutch sailors the " Burgo- 
master," from the tyranny wh^ch in virtue of its size and strength it 
exerts over most of the smaller birds of the Northern seas, compell- 
ing them to relinquish the fish they have taken; bad qualities, shared 
in a like degree by the Parasiticus Gull. Mr. Lamont, in his account 
of Spitzbergen, describes these marine bashaws very amusingly : 

" None of these birds ever seemed to take the trouble of picking 
up anything for themselves, but as soon as they observe any other 
gull in possession of a morsel which he is not able to swallow out- 
right, they dash at him and hunt him through the air until the 
victim is obliged to drop whatever he has secured, and the ravenous 
burgomaster appropriates and swallows it himself. I have watched 
many of these nefarious transactions, and the result is always the 
same : the small gull turns, and twists, and doubles, and dodges, 
screaming all the time so pitifully that one would think he expected 
to lose his life instead of his dinner, but at last he is compelled to 
give up possession, and the burgomaster then ceases to molest him." 
Sailors are very fond of playing off a joke upon the gulls, which 



SAILORS' TRICKS ON THE GULL 367 

are always hovering about ships. They take three or four pieces 
of sail-twine about six feet in length ; these are tied together in 
She middle, and to the end of each a small piece of blubber or fat 
is attached tightly, and then thrown into the sea. A gull comes 
and swallows one piece, another then sees there is plenty to spare, 
and swallows the next ; perhaps a third gull takes possession of 
another ; but as they are all attached by the sail-yarns, whenever 
they try to fly away one or the other is compelled to disgorge his 
share ; and this is continued, to the tantalizing suspense of the 
poor gulls, and the great fun of the sailors. This may be a con- 
firmation of the old popular term applied to persons easily duped, 
but in most cases the gull shows great wariness and cleverness, 
especially in escaping from its insatiable enemy the heron. 

The glaucous gull is an occasional visitor to our shores from its 
habitat in Northern Europe. One was shot at Gal way during the 
" famine " year in Ireland (1846). A soup kitchen had been estab- 
lished within some distance of the coast, and each day the stately- 
looking fellow left its maritime domain, and attracted by the smell, 
sailed about the vicinity of the soup. Many of the poor famished 
peasants regarded it with an unfavourable eye, not being accus- 
tomed to observe a white bird of such dimensions floating in the 
air, and uttering its hoarse cries overhead, as if laughing at their 
misery. 

Another inhabitant of the cold regions is the Iceland Gull, smaller 
in size, and elegant in shape. Some species of this family are re- 
markably beautiful : one of the smallest, the Larus tninutus, or 
" Little Gull," from the Arctic shores, has a lovely roseate tint , 
overspreading the white under-plumage. The Black-headed Gidl 
abounds on our shores during autumn and winter, and is a fine bird, 
familiar and unsuspicious in its habits, and additionally interesting 
from the circumstance that this species was protected by the Druids, 
and was figuratively adopted as an emblem connected with the 
Deluge, and formed an important feature in their ceremonies : 

" Screams round the arch-druid's 
Brow the sea-mew white 
As Menai's foam." 



368 THE FEATHERED DEVISHES OF THE AIR. 

The Great Black-backed Gull, distinguished also by the appella* 
tions of the " Goose Gull," " Grey Gull/' and " Parson Gull," the 
latter name arising from the contrast between the black back with 
the snow-white of the under-plumage, is a large and handsome bird. 
To every frequenter of the coast the stately and graceful form of 
this bird is well known, and whether observed in summer, when 
quietly sunning itself on the strand, or in winter amidst the con- 
flicting war of elements, steadying itself in the eddying blast, it 
cannot fail to excite admiration. At no time more attractive than 
when observed during hazy, foggy weather, a black-backed gull, 
looming through a cloud, with its immense sweep of wing (often 
exceeding five feet), increased by the state of the atmosphere to a 
giant size, almost reminds us of the albatross. 

The Herring, or " Silvery Gull," is distinguished by the spotless 
purity of its plumage, and ranks among the most beautiful of the 
gulls that frequent our shores, and has been called the "feathered 
dervishes of the air " from their rapid and gyratory mode of flying. 

"White bird of the tempest — ah, beautiful thing! 
With the bosom of snow, and the motionless wing." 

The Kittiwake is, with the exception of the " black-headed," the 
smallest of our common gulls, and during the summer the most 
frequent visitor on our coasts. Almost exclusively maritime in its 
habits, it never ventures inland like the other species, but contents 
itself with the food that it obtains on the sea. 

Before leaving the family of gulls, I may mention that these sea- 
birds were formerly considered among the delicacies of a rich 
man's table. They are thus mentioned in the " Household Book " 
of the fifth Earl of Northumberland, begun in 1512, where they 
are charged at one penny or three half-pence each ; but in more 
dainty and modern times the flesh of gulls is considered hard and 
ill-tasted, and the people whom necessity obliges to make use of 
it, hang up the body by the feet for some time that the oil may run 
out. 

The Skuas are ranked by naturalists in successive order (Lestris) 
giter the gulls, who find in them determined antagonists. Armed 



REMARKABLE PUGNACITY OF THE SQUA. 369 

with a powerful bill, the skua is capable of doing much mischief. 
It is related that one of these birds, which had received a slight 
injury in the wing-joint, was taken, and sent by the captain of a 
vessel on shore, in charge of a sailor, with instructions that the 
bird should be killed and stuffed. The sailor opening the basket 
in which it was confined rather hastily, the skua dashed ferociously 
at him, striking with its bill and buffeting with its wings, drawing 
blood with every successive stroke it made, until at last the sailor 
drew out his clasp-knife in self-defence, but so determined was the 
bird, that had not a table-cloth been thrown over it, the contest 
would have been of long duration. 

The pugnacity of the skua is remarkable. No sooner does a 
skua observe an eagle within its domains than it makes a violent 
attack upon him. Mr. Drosier relates a very interesting anecdote 
on this subject. He was standing at the foot of the loftiest hill in 
Foula, Shetland : "an eagle was returning to his eyrie, situated on 
the face of the western crags, in appearance perfectly unconscious of 
approaching so near to his inveterate foe, as, in general, the eagle 
returns to the rocks from the sea without even crossing the smallest 
portion of the island. As I was intently observing the majestic 
flight of the bird, on a sudden he altered his direction and de- 
scended hurriedly, as if in the act of pouncing. In a moment five 
or six skuas passed over my head with astonishing rapidity, their 
wings partly closed and perfectly steady, without the slightest waver 
or irregularity. The gulls soon came up with the eagle, as their 
descent was very rapid, and a desperate engagement ensued. The 
short bark of the eagle was clearly discernible above the scarcely 
distinguishable cry of the skuas, who never ventured to attack 
their enemy in front, but taking a short circle around him, one 
made a desperate sweep or stoop, and striking the eagle on the 
back, darted up again almost perpendicularly. This cowardly at- 
tack was imitated by each of the other gulls, and continued some 
time, the eagle wheeling and turning as well as his ponderous 
wings would allow, and evidently harassed unmercifully, until I 
lost sight of the combatants among the rocks." 

The Petrels are among the most interesting of marine birds, 

24* 



370 THE STORM-PETREL. 

The name is said to be derived from the circumstance that besides 
the faculty of swimming, they possess that of supporting themselves 
on the water by striking very rapidly with their feet, which has 
caused them to be compared to St. Peter walking upon the water. 
These birds are to be seen in all seas of the globe from one pole 
to the other, and are the inseparable companions of mariners 
during their long navigations, following the vessels in great flocks 
to pick up any garbage thrown into the water. Their flight is al- 
most always performed by hovering, and without presenting ap- 
parent vibrations. They drop promptly on their prey, which seems 
to consist chiefly of the blubber or fat of whales, mollusca, marine 
worms, and the spawn of fish. Neither the habits of the petrels, 
nor the structure of the bill adapt them for fishing. They have 
the faculty of spouting oi], as a means of defence, in the face of 
any one who may attempt to take them. Persons not aware of 
this fact have lost their lives by falling into the sea or down pre- 
cipices. 

The Storm-Petrel, the bird of ill omen among mariners, as I 
have already remarked in another chapter, is about the size of a 
house-swallow, in length six inches, and the extent of the wings 
thirteen inches. The whole body is black except near the tail, 
some feathers of which are white. The ancients believed that the 
petrel hatched its eggs beneath its wing, as at all seasons and in 
every sea they had been remarked flying, whilst their appearance 

on land was never noticed : 

"The bird of Thrace, 
Whose pinion knows no resting-place." 

It is true that the petrels do not quit the sea except at the time of 
laying, and for the purpose of making their nests upon very pre- 
cipitous rocks, where they feed their young on half-digested animals. 
They retire there during the night, and utter a most disagreeable 
cry, resembling the croaking of a reptile. 

The Terns or " Sea-Swallows " have remarkably long wings and 
slender bills ; the tail is forked, and the plumage generally is of a 
delicate pearl-white, with more or less black upon the head. The 
terns are continually on the wing, and although web-footed, are not 



THE TERNS OR "SEA-SWALLOWS? 371 

seen to swim ; they rest but seldom, and only on the land, feeding 
for the most part on small fish and mollusca, which they seize upon 
the surface of the water, but they also catch aerial insects. In flying 
they send forth sharp and piercing cries. The most elegantly formed 
of the terns is that called the " Roseate," the mantle of which is a 
pale tint, the under-parts of a rosy hue. Mr. Selby tells us that 
on the Fame Islands it breeds abundantly. " When intruding on 
the nest, the bird showed great anxiety, approaching so near that 
we knocked one or two down with a fishing-rod used by the keeper 
of the lighthouse for fishing from the rocks. All the terns are very 
light, the body being comparatively small, and the expanse of wings 
and tail so buoys them up that when shot in the air they are sus- 
tained, their wings fold above them, and they whirl gently down 
like a shuttlecock." The species are numerous and occur in both 
hemispheres. 

The Skimmers, although possessing much of the general habits 
of the terns, are distinguished by the singular form of the bill, the 
upper mandible of which is considerably shorter than the other. 
They skim over the surface of the ocean with great swiftness, and 
scoop up small marine insects. 

The Albatross, whose habitual dwelling is the Austral Ocean, . 
from the Cape of Good Hope as far as New Holland, belongs to 
the genus Diomedia, and is the most powerful and bulky of the 
whole family. The extent of their outspread wings is enormous, 
yet their flight, except in stormy weather, is by no means lofty : 
like all the rapacious birds of the ocean, they are most voracious. 
They devour fish with so much gluttony that often one-half of the 
body remains outside of the bill until the part which is swallowed, 
being dissolved by digestion, leaves a passage for the rest. They 
are often gorged to such a degree as to be unable to fly, or to escape 
the boats which pursue them. Although the flesh of the albatross 
is hard and rank, yet sailors contrive to render it eatable, when 
they are in want of fresh provisions, by taking off the skin, and 
soaking the body in salt for four and twenty hours, then boiling 
it, and eating it with some strong sauce. 

In spite of the strength and powerful bill of the albatross, it is 



572 THE DIVERS GREAT DESTROYERS OF FISH. 

by no means warlike, and will remain on the defensive against 
some of the gull tribe which harass them, and to escape such 
attacks they plunge their body into the water. They experience 
some difficulty in rising to their flight, and then strike the water 
rapidly with their feet and clap with their wings; but after this 
impulsion the wings remain developed, and they do nothing but 
balance themselves alternately from right to left, shaving the sur- 
face qf the water with rapidity, and plunging in their heads now and 
then in search of food to a certain depth. 

The Divers (Colymbidce) are great destroyers of fish, and expert 
in their method of getting supplies, as their name would suggest. 
Indeed, they are said to dive with such celerity that they often 
evade a shot directed against them, sinking at the very moment the 
flash appears. These birds cannot support themselves on land 
except in a position nearly vertical, and by the assistance of their 
wings, which thus act as oars. Sometimes they fall with their 
stomach flat on the ground, and have some difficulty in raising 
themselves up. They are seen in our climates only when the 
rivers and ponds of cold countries are frozen, and they return to 
their homes in the north after the thaw. They undergo a periodical 
change of plumage in one form or another. The Red-throated 
Diver is tolerably comrhon around the coasts, entering the mouths 
of rivers after shoals of sprats, &c. The Great Northern Diver 9 
a remarkably handsome bird, occurs on our shores during winter, 
frequenting the vicinity of the oyster-scalps, and is there well 
known to the fisherman from its loud and monotonous call. Lee- 
mius remarks of the Laplanders, that if a person hears the cry of 
any of the divers in spring, and while fasting, the milk from his 
flocks will not curdle for the whole year. Vigilant and shy, if 
pursued, it exerts its admirable locomotive powers, and advances 
with immense speed. Nature has provided means of escape and 
safety to the divers in the flattened form of the body and the 
wonderful mechanism of the foot, the membrane of which can be 
closed preparatory to each stroke. 

From the divers we are easily led to the family of the Auks 
(Alcadce), by means of the Guillemots, ocean birds to which the 



the great auk. 373 

attribute of stupidity has been applied, but probably without 
sufficient reflection on their peculiar conformation, the wings being 
short and narrow so that the bird can scarcely flutter; the legs 
also from their position are quite unfit for the purpose of walking ; 
and the natural element of the bird is only on the bosom of the 
sea, where it swims with the greatest swiftness, and even dives 
below the ice. 

The Common is the only one of the British guillemots that can 
be called abundant, the others being comparatively rare, and some 
only straggling visitants. It is found around all our coasts, to the 
Shetland and Orkney islands, and also around the, shores of tem- 
perate Europe. When near their breeding-places at the proper 
season, they assemble in thousands, at times blackening the sea. 

" Sitting closely along a ledge of' rock," observes Mr. Watters, 
" no matter how elevated above the sea, they impart all the ap- 
pearance of being ranged in file, or, as they have been compared 
by the Manxmen, resembling an apothecary's shop — the even 
ledges of the rock, the shelves, and the birds the pots ; whilst on 
the least alarm the entire range of the birds sweep downward in 
a line to the sea. Such successful divers are they, and rapacious 
feeders, that twenty-five herring fry have been counted in the 
stomach of a single bird. Congregated in parties of from eight 
to thirty, they evince the utmost amiability towards each other, 
fishing and winging their way in small flocks to and from their 
breeding haunts." 

The Great Auk is an inhabitant of Northern Europe, and has 
been rarely captured on our coasts. Of considerable size, its 
power of progression is limited only to the water, the shortness of 
its wings rendering it incapable of flight, and from the backward 
position of its legs, it stands erect and stately. Breeding in remote 
northern latitudes, the eggs are obtained with great difficulty. The 
length of the bird is said to be from thirty inches to three feet ; the 
bill, four inches long, is black with transverse furrows, the grooves 
white. In the dress of winter the chin, throat, and sides of the 
neck are white. The Razor-bill Auk is nearly equally abundant 
with the guillemot on all our coasts, breeding in the same manner 



#4 SINGULAR HABITS OF THE PENGUINS. 

together on rocks, and appearing off our shores during the winter 
in small parties. 

The Puffin, or " Sea-Parrot," so named from the bill, which, in 
comparison with the size of the bird, is strongly developed, is a 
summer visitant to our shores, repairing to them for the purpose of 
incubation. It sometimes breeds in fissures of the rocks ; but its 
most general resort is in holes and burrows, either formed by 
itself or supplied by rabbits, if they happen to be inhabitants of 
the same locality. On the Bass Rock, the holes in the ruins of 
the old fortifications afford a retreat. The puffin is used as an 
article of food by various island and northern tribes in whose 
vicinity they breed. They are caught by stretching a piece of cord 
along the stony places where they chiefly assemble, to which nooses 
are attached. 

The Penguins occupy habitually the most northern points and 
Islands of Europe, of Asia, and of America ; but they cannot re- 
main at sea, except in calm weather. When the tempest surprises 
them far from shore, great numbers of them perish. Though they 
usually only shave the surface of the water in flying, they can ele- 
vate themselves to a certain height. By night they retire into the 
clefts of rocks and caverns. In their tottering walk they seem to 
rock from one side to the other. Their food consists in crustaceous 
animals, and they also live on shell mollusca and small fish, which 
they take in diving. They make their nests in holes on the sea- 
coasts, which they enlarge with their bills and feet. These birds 
are very singular in their habits. Darwin, in the " Voyage of the 
Adventure and Beagle," relates : 

" One day, having placed myself between a penguin and the 
water, I was much amused by watching its habits. It was a brave 
bird, and until reaching the sea it regularly fought and drove me 
backwards. Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped 
him : every inch gained he firmly kept, standing close before me, 
erect and determined. When thus opposed, he continually rolled 
his head from side to side in a very odd manner, as if the power of 
vision lay only in the anterior and basal part of each eye. . This 
bird is commonly called the ' jackass penguin/ from its habit while 



CORMORANTS TRAINED TO FISH. 375 

on shore of throwing its head backwards, and making a loud, strange 
noise, very like the braying of that animal ; but while at sea and 
undisturbed, its note is very deep and solemn, and is often heard 
in the night-time. In diving, its little plumeless wings are used as 
fins, but on the land as front legs. When crawling (it may be said 
on four legs) through the tassocks, or on the side of a grassy cliff, it 
moved so very quickly that it might readily have been mistaken for 
a quadruped. When at sea and fishing, it comes to the surface for 
the purpose of breathing with such a spring, and dives again so 
instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure that it 
is not a fish leaping for sport." 

One of the greatest destroyers of fish is the Cormorant, belonging 
to the family Pelicanida, or " Pelicans," and the common species 
of which is widely distributed, extending around the whole coasts 
of our mainlands and islands, constructing their nests, on the sum- 
mits of rocks most generally, of sea-weeds or materials collected on 
the waters. The bird is not easily approached at sea, but gets out 
of harm's way by flight, not by having recourse to diving, like so 
many of the true aquatic tribes : the flight, powerful and overland, 
is performed at a great height. When swimming, it is easily dis- 
tinguished by its long upright neck. So keen in fishing is the cor- 
morant that advantage has been taken of the circumstance to train 
it for that purpose in the manner hawks are trained for fowling, a 
tight collar being put round the throat, to prevent the swallowing 
of the prey. A bird of this species kept by Colonel Montague 
was extremely docile, of a grateful disposition, and by no means 
vindictive. He received it by coach after it had been four and 
twenty hours on the road ; yet, though it must have been hungry, 
it rejected every sort of food he could offer to it, even raw flesh; 
but, as he could not procure fish at the time, he was compelled to 
cram it with meat, which it swallowed with evident reluctance, 
though it did not attempt to strike him with its formidable beak. 
After seeing it fed he withdrew to the library, but was surprised in 
a few minutes to see the stranger walk boldly into the room, and 
join him at the fireside with the greatest familiarity, where it con- 
tinued, dressing its feathers, until it was removed to the aquatic 



376 VORACITY OF THE CORMORANT. 

menagerie. It became restless at the sight of water, and when set 
at liberty, plunged and dived without intermission for a consider- 
able time, not capturing, or even discovering, a single fish ; and, 
apparently convinced there were none to be found, it made no 
further attempt for three days. 

The dexterity with which the cormorant seizes its prey is incre- 
dible. Knowing its own powers, if a fish is thrown into the water 
at a distance, it will dive immediately, pursuing its course under 
water in a direct line towards the spot, never failing to take the fish, 
and that frequently before it falls to the bottom. The quantity it 
will swallow at a meal is astonishing : three or four pounds twice a 
day are readily devoured, the digestion being excessively rapid. If, 
by accident, a large fish sticks in the gullet, it has the power of 
inflating that part to the utmost, and while in that state the head 
and neck are violently shaken, in order to promote its passage. In 
the act of fishing it always carries its head under water, in order 
that it may discover its prey at a greater distance and with more 
certainty than could be effected by keeping its eyes above the sur- 
face, which is agitated by the air, and rendered unfit for visional 
purposes. If the fish is of the flat kind, it will turn it in the bill, 
so as to reverse its natural position, and by this means only could 
such be got within the bill. If it succeeds in capturing an eel — 
which is its favourite food — in an unfavourable position for gorging, 
it will throw the fish up some height, dexterously catching it in a 
more favourable one as it descends. The cormorant lives in per- 
fect harmony with the wild swan, goose, various sorts of duck, and 
other birds ; but to a gull with a piece of fish it will instantly give 
chase. 

Mr. Glennon relates : " Several years ago I took a pair of these 
birds from a nest among the rocks of Howth (Ireland), and kept 
them for nearly two years, by which time they had attained their 
full growth. They were pleasant pets enough, unless when pressed 
by hunger, when they became outrageous and screamed most vio- 
lently ; when satisfied with food, they slept, roosting on a large 
trough placed for holding water. But woe to the man or beast 
attempting to approach them when hungry. It happened once 



"FISHING" PELICANS. 



that a gentleman's servant went to look at them while in this state : 
he wore a pair of red plush breeches that immediately attracted 
the attention of the birds, which I had been in the habit of feed- 
ing with livers and lights ; the consequence was they made such a 
furious attack that I had to run to his assistance with a stick, and 
could not beat them off without the greatest difficulty. Their 
attack on cats, dogs, and poultry, if unprotected, was always fatal. 
They fought at once with their bills, wings, and claws, screaming 
frightfully all the time. In fact, the cause of my parting with them 
was their having destroyed a fine Spanish pointer : he had in- 
cautiously strayed into the place where I kept them, and they im- 
mediately flew at and attacked him in front and rear. His loud 
howling brought me to his aid, when I was astonished to find they 
had got him down, and before I could rescue him from their fury, 
they had greatly injured him in one of his shoulders, so much so 
that he afterwards died of the wound." 

The Druids believed the appearance of a cormorant during the 
celebration of their mysteries was an evil omen : 

"Slowly the cormorant aims his heavy flight, 
Portending ruin to each baleful rite." 

Milton describes the arch-fiend, who — 

" On the Tree of Life— 
The middle tree, the highest there that grew— 
Sat like a cormorant." 

The Pelican, being furnished with a peculiar organ for storing up 
its prey, would seem to be still better adapted than the cormorant 
for being trained to fish. Labat mentions that the Indians adopt . 
this practice, and dispatch a pelican in the morning, after having 
stained it red, and that it returned in the evening with its bag full 
of fish, which it was made to disgorge. 

The sac or bag of the pelican is an elastic flesh-coloured mem- 
brane, which hangs from the lower, edges of the under mandible, 
reaching the whole length of the bill to the neck, said to be capa- 
cious enough to hold about four gallons of water. The bird has 
the power of contracting the bag by wrinkling it up under the 
mandible, so that it is scarcely visible; but afcer a successful fish- 



373 GREAT STRENGTH OF THE PELICAN'S WING. 

; ng, it is incredible to what extent it is frequently distended. It 
t )reys chiefly on the larger fish, with which it fills its capacious 
pouch in order to digest them at leisure. Paley, in his " Natural 
Theology/' has made this wonderful attribute of the pelican one of 
the many arguments of the great Creator's power. 

The great stretch of wing in the pelican, extending to eleven or 
twelve feet, and consequently double that of the swan or the eagle, 
enables it to support itself a long time in the air, where it balances 
itself with great steadiness, and only changes its place to dart 
directly downwards on its prey, which rarely escapes ; for the vio- 
lence of the dash, and its wide-spread wings, by striking and cover- 
ing the surface of the water, make it boil and whirl, and at the 
same time stun the fish, and deprive it of the power of escape. 
When the pelicans are in flocks they act in concert, and, forming 
a great circle which they diminish by degrees, they thus enclose 
the fish, and all, at a certain signal, strike the water at the same 
moment, and amidst the disorder thus occasioned they plump in 
and seize their prey. These birds spend in fishing the hours of 
the morning and evening, when the finny tribe are most in motion, 
and they choose the places where they are most plentiful. 

The pelican belongs more to warm than cold climates. It is 
very common in Africa and in some parts of Asia ; it is met with 
also in America and in the southern parts of Australia. It perches 
on trees, but does not nestle there, constructing on the ground a 
nest a foot and a half in diameter, furnished internally with soft 
sea-plants. 

The flesh of the pelican was forbidden to the Jews as unclean. 
It has an ill taste, and in America is used for its oil. The pouches 
of these birds have also been used to hold tobacco, and this skin, 
when dressed, is very soft. 

To the pelican tribe also belongs the Gannet, "Solan Goose," 
much larger than the gulls, from which they may be distinguished 
at a distance by a greater length of neck, the intense whiteness of 
the plumage, and the black tip of their wide-spreading wings. The 
mode in which the gannet fishes is peculiar. , " In flight," remarks 
the Rev. C. A. Johns, "it circles round and round, and describes 



SINGULAR METHOD OF CATCHING GANNETS. 379 

again and again a figure of eight, at a varying elevation above the 
water, in quest of herrings, pilchards,- and other fishes, whose habit 
it is to swim near the surface. When it has discovered a prey, it 
suddenly arrests its flight, probably closes its wings, and descends 
with a force sufficient to make &jet d'eau visible two or three miles 
off, and to carry it many feet downwards. When successful, it 
brings its prize to the surface, and devours it without troubling it- 
self about mastication. If unsuccessful, it rises immediately and 
resumes its hunting. It is sometimes seen swimming, perhaps to 
rest itself, for I did not observe that it ever dived on these occa- 
sions. My companion told me that the fishermen on the coasts 
of Ireland say that if this bird be chased by a boat when seen 
swimming, it becomes so terrified as to be unable to rise. The 
real reason may be that it is gorged with food. He was once, he 
told me, in a boat on the Lough, when a gannet being seen a long 
way off, it was determined to give chase, and ascertain whether 
the statement was true. As the boat drew near, the gannet en- 
deavoured to escape by swimming, but made no attempt to use 
its wings. After a pretty long chase the boatman secured it, in 
spite of a very severe bite which it inflicted on his hand. It did 
not appear to have received any injury, and when released on the 
evening of the same day, swam out to sea with great composure. 
A fisherman at Islay told me that in some parts of Scotland a 
singular method of catching these birds is adopted. A herring is 
fastened to a board, and sunk a few feet deep in the sea. The 
sharp eye of the gannet detects its prey, and the bird, first raising 
itself to an elevation sufficient to carry it down to the requisite 
depth, pounces on the fish, and in the effort penetrates the board 
to which it is attached. Being thus held fast by the beak, it is 
unable to extricate itself. Frequently also gannets are caught in 
the herring-nets at various depths below the surface. Diving after 
the fish, they become entangled in the nets, and are thus captured 
in a trap not intended for them. They perform good service to 
fishermen by indicating at a great distance the exact position of 
the shoals of fish." 

Some idea may be formed of the fishing exploits of the gannet 



3§o AIR-CELLS OF THE G AN NET. 

from what Buchanan states, that one hundred and five millions of 
herrings are destroyed annually by these birds at St. Kilda, They 
are summer visitants to our coasts, and although from their power -, 
of flight they seem to be widely scattered, yet their real stations 
or breeding-places are few and local. The Bass Rock, St. Kilda, 
and Ailsa Craig have long existed as the Scotch localities ; while 
Lundy Island on the coast of Devon, and the Skelig Isles in Ire- 
land, are less-known English and Irish stations. 

It is on the Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth, that they assemble 
in countless multitudes, and present an extraordinary sight to the 
beholder, nestling upon their eggs, greeting their mates on their 
arrival from the sea, or quarrelling if one happens to intrude a 
little too near another. Troops of birds in adult, changing, and 
first year's plumage, pass and repass, sailing in a smooth noiseless 
flight. The great proportion build on the ledges of the precipitous 
face of the rock, but a considerable number also place their nests 
— generally made carelessly of a few dried stalks of sea-weed, 
rudely put together — on the summit near the edge, where they 
can be walked among ; there the birds are very tame, allowing a 
person to approach them, but when a foot is held out aggressively 
they will bite at it. 

Most, if *not all, of these breeding stations are rented from the 
proprietors, the rent being paid chiefly by the feathers. The young 
geese are killed and cured. The inhabitants of St. Kilda, the 
most western of the Hebrides, are said to consume twenty-two 
thousand of the young birds every year, besides eggs. The gannet 
is easily kept in confinement, though the required supply of fish 
renders its keep expensive. It is indifferent alike to cold or stormy 
weather ; the air-cells which give lightness to the bo.dy are deve- 
loped in an extraordinary degree. Montague remarks " the gannet 
is capable of containing about three full inspirations of my lungs, 
divided into nearly three equal portions, the cellular parts under 
the skin on each side holding nearly as much as the cavity of the 
body. In the act of respiration there appears to be always some 
air propelled between the skin and the body, as a visible expansion 
and contraction is observed about the breast, and this singula? 



THE GREAT SEA-EAGLE. 381 



conformation makes the bird so buoyant that it floats high on the 
water, and does not sink beneath the surface, as observed in the 
cormorant and shag." 

The Hooper or Wild Swan is the most common of its species 
in our country, being a general winter visitant. The length to the 
end of the toes is five feet ; to that of the tail, four feet ten inches; 
extent of wings, seven feet three inches; and weight from thirteen 
to sixteen pounds. The lower part of the bill is black ; the base 
of it, and the space between that and the eyes, is covered with a 
naked yellow skin ; the whole plumage in old birds is of a pure 
white, the down being very soft and thick. The cry of the wild 
swan is very loud, and may be heard at a great distance, from which 
the name of " Hooper " is derived. When they fly high, and 
numbers of different ages and sexes are mingled together, their 
notes are far from disagreeable. 

Belonging to the family of the Falconidce are birds of the eagle 
kind, which fish on their own account, robbing others of their prey 
when they can, and pursuing nearly the same method of dashing 
from a height upon the fish in the water. The Great Sea-Eagle is 
a distinguished member of this predatory family, measuring in 
length three feet, and in extent of wings six feet six inches. This 
bird often presents a fine feature in the wild and desolate landscape. 
Its most favourite haunts in Britain are the northern coasts of 
Scotland, where the headlands reach a stupendous height, are per- 
pendicular on the. face, and where the shelves and ledges selected 
for breeding or roosting-places are secure from aggression either 
from above or beneath. Here the sea-eagle resides constantly at 
one season, or he finds a safe shelter during the night, after his 
more extended hunting excursions. Here he is monarch of all he 
surveys ; amidst .the numerous sea-fowl, his companions, his pale 
grey-tinted plumage and outspread tail being conspicuous when op- 
posed to the dark green sea or the deep and rich shade's of many 
of these splendid precipices. Although of great size and imposing 
aspect, it is less elegant than the golden eagle, and inferior in 
courage and activity to many of the smaller species of the tribe. 
When standing, its postures are by no means graceful, but the keen- 



382 BURNING THE NESTS OF THE SEA-EAGLE. 

ness of its bright and fierce eye enlivens its appearance, and 
under excitement it throws itself into beautiful and picturesque 
attitudes, drawing back its head, and erecting the narrow and 
pointed feathers of the neck. 

Besides a fondness for fish — in capturing which, however, the 
sea-eagle is not half so dexterous as the osprey — the bird is such 
; a predaceous intruder on the farm-yard, that in the Hebrides a 
fierce war is waged against him. 

" The farmers of the isles of St. Kilda," remarks Mr. Magil- 
livray, "proceed to their extermination, some carrying coils of rope, 
others bundles of dry heath and burning peat, and ascend to the 
brow of the mountains, where the fissured and shelved precipice 
hangs over the foamy margin of the Atlantic. Strings of gannets, 
cormorants, and guillemots are seen winding round the promon- 
tories, while here and there over the curling waves is seen hovering 
a solitary gull. They have reached the brink of the cliffs, over which 
the more timid scarce dare venture to cast a glance, for almost 
directly under their feet is the unfathomed sea, heaving its heavy 
billows some hundred feet below the place to which they cling. 
The eagles are abroad, sailing at a cautious distance in circles, 
uttering wild and harsh screams, and as they sweep past display- 
ing their powerful talons. One of the men fastens the rope to his 
body, passing it under his arms, and securing it upon his breast by 
a firm knot. The rest dig holes with their heels in the turf, and 
sitting down in a row, take firm hold of the cord. The adventurer 
looks over the edge of the cliff, marks the projecting shelf which 
overhangs the eagle's nest, and is gradually lowered towards it, 
bearing in one hand the bundle of heath with the cord attached 
to it, and the peat burning in the middle, and with the other push- 
ing himself from the angular projection of the rock. At length he 
arrives on the shelf, and calls to those above to slacken the rope, 
but keep fast hold of it. Then creeping forwards, and clinging to 
unstable tufts of vegetation on the sides of the rock, he looks 
downwards and ascertains the precise position of the nest, in which 
are two eaglets covered with down, skeletons of fishes, birds, and 
lambs heaped around them. At sight of the human face — which 



THE OSPREY OR FISHING-EAGLE. 383 

to their imagination is anything but divine — the young eagles 
shrink back in terror, cowering beneath the projecting angle that 
\ partly roofs the nest. Their enemy now retreats, disposes the 
fc bundle of heath in a loose manner, blows the peat into a flame, and 
partially encloses it. Once more he approaches the brink, casting 
an anxious eye towards the old eagles which are wheeling in short 
circles and uttering confused and piercing cries ; then blowing the 
v flame, kindles the bundle of combustibles, and rapidly lowers it right 
into the nest. The young birds scream and hiss, throwing them- 
selves into attitudes of defence. The heath smokes and crackles, 
and at length blazes into full flame ; then the sticks, sea-weeds, 
wool, and feathers of the nest catch fire, and the ascending column 
of smoke indicates to the ropemen above that the deed is doing. 
Flames and smoke conceal the young birds from the avenger's 
gaze, but he stirs not until they have abated, and he sees the huge 
eyrie and its contents reduced to ashes. He then calls to his 
friends, who tighten the rope, and preparing himself for the ascent, 
is hauled up, encountering no small danger from the fragments 
which are loosened from the rock, and the difficulty of keeping his 
face and breast from the ragged points which project from the cliff. 
Birds have feelings as well as men, and those of the eagle are 
doubtless acute, for the old birds wheel and scream along the face 
of the rock for many days in succession, and as by this time the 
summer is far advanced, they form no new nest." 

But the king of winged fishers is the famous Osprey, the " Fish- 
ing Eagle" par excellence, or " Fishing Hawk," as it has been variously 
named, a bird remarkable among the rapacious kind for the pecu- 
liar adaptation it enjoys for fishing. The wings of the male osprey 
are sixty inches in length, the body being twenty-three ; the female, 
however, is larger, but does not differ much in colour, which is 
generally in the upper parts a deep brown, beautifully glossed with 
light purple, the margins and tips of the feathers being pale brown 
or brownish-white. The osprey finds a worthy antagonist in the 
white-headed eagle. 

" Elevated," remarks Wilson, " on the high dead limb of some 
gigantic tree that commands a wide view of the neighbouring shore 



384 FISHING HABITS OF THE OSPREY. 

and ocean, the white-headed eagle seems calmly to contemplate 
the motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy 
avocations below: the snow-white gulls slowly winnowing the air; 
the busy sand-pipers coursing along the sands ; trains of ducks 
streaming over the surface ; silent and watchful cranes, intent and 
wading ; clamorous crows ; and all the winged multitude that sub- 
sist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of Nature. High 
over all these hovers one whose actions instantly arrest all the at- 
tention of the observer. By his wide curvature of wing and sudden 
suspension in air he knows him to be the osprey, the " fish-hawk," 
settling over some devoted victim of the ocean. His eye kindles 
at the sight, and balancing himself with half-opened wings on the 
branch, he watches the result. Down — rapid as an arrow from 
heaven — descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of 
its wings reaching the ear as it disappears in the deep, making the 
surges foam around. At this moment the eager looks of the eagle 
are all ardour; and levelling his neck for flight, he sees. the osprey 
once more emerge struggling with his prey, and mounting in the 
air with screams of exultation. These are the signals for our hero, 
who, launching into the air, instantly gives chase, soon gains on the 
fish-hawk ; each exerts his utmost to mount above the other, dis- 
playing in the struggle the most elegant and sublime aerial evolu- 
tions. The unencumbered sea-eagle rapidly advances, and is just 
on the point of reaching his opponent, when, with a sudden scream, 
probably of despair and honest execration, the osprey drops his 
fish ; the eagle, poising himself for a moment, as if to take a more 
certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp 
before it reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty to the 
woods." 

In the same picturesque and elegant language Wilson describes 
the fishing habits of the osprey : 

" On leaving its nest, it usually flies direct until it reaches the 
sea, fhen sails round in easy curving lines, turning sometimes in 
the air as on a pivot, apparently without the least exertion, rarely 
moving its wings. Suddenly it checks its course as if struck by a 
particular object, which it seems to survey for a few moments with 



OSPREY'S CAPACITY FOR CAPTURING PREY. 385 

such steadiness that it appears fixed in the air, flapping its wings. 
This object, however, it abandons, and is again seen sailing round 
as before. Now its attention is again arrested, and it descends 
with great rapidity, but before it reaches the surface shoots off on 
another course, as if ashamed that a second victim had escaped. 
It now sails at a short distance above the surface, and by a zig-zag 
descent, and without seeming to dip its feet in the water, seizes a 
fish, which, after carrying a short distance, it drops and probably 
yields up to the bald eagle, and again ascends by easy spiral circles 
to the higher regions, where it glides about with all the ease and 
majesty of its species. From hence it descends like a perpen- 
dicular torrent, plunging into the sea with a low rushing sound, 
and with the certainty of a rifle. In a few moments it emerges, 
bearing in its claws the struggling prey, which is always carried 
head-foremost, and having risen a few feet above the surface, shakes 
itself as a water-spaniel would do, and then seeks land.. If the wind 
blows hard, and its nest be in a quarter from whence it comes, it 
is amusing to see with what judgment the osprey beats up to 
windward; not in a direct line, but, like an experienced navigator, 
making several successive tacks to accomplish its purpose. 

The ospreys watch and pursue fish with as much avidity as the 
true eagles hunt their game on the land ; and Nature, as I have 
remarked, has provided them with the means for so doing. Fish 
are slippery, and therefore its claws are long and much curved, its 
toes nearly of equal length, and capable of being applied in the 
most effectual manner, in pairs, two and two opposite each other. 
It must also possess considerable power, and therefore its legs are 
strong and muscular, and to prevent its being inextricably entangled 
the claws are smooth and rounded, so that they can, if necessary, 
be readily withdrawn. The animals on which it feeds live in the 
water, ordinarily beyond its reach, coming occasionally to the sur- 
face ; the bird, therefore, has a comparatively slender form, with 
very long wings, so as to enable it to remain without fatigue sailing 
or hovering over the water until an opportunity of pouncing occurs. 
To prevent its plumage from being injured by its sudden immersion 
into the water, the feathers of the lower surface are rather more 

25 



386 THE TROPIC SEA-BIRDS. 

compact and considerably shorter than in eagles and most other 
birds of the family, and those of the leg are short all round, whilst 
most other species have a large tuft of short feathers. The struc- 
ture of the wings is also curious : in the osprey they are very long, 
yet length is not of itself an indication of great speed so much as 
the power of easy suspension in the air and of continued flight 
The osprey requires to hover long over the waters, often over the 
open sea at some distance from land, sometimes for hours together 
before an opportunity for pouncing on its prey occurs. Its form 5 
therefore, is as light as is compatible with strength. 

"True to the season, o'er our sea-beat shore, 
The sailing osprey high is seen to soar, 
\ With broad unmoving wing, and, circling slow, 

! Marks each loose straggler in the deep below — 

Sweeps down like lightning, plunges with a roar, 
And bears his struggling victim to the shore. " 

I have now to notice another family, the Phaeton or Tropic Birds \ 
so named because, from their habitual residence under the burning 
zone, bounded by the tropics, they seem attached to the chariot of 
the sun, to use a classical metaphor. From this climate they re- 
move but little, and their appearance indicates to seamen their 
approaching passage under this zone, from whatever side they may 
arrive. Still, they advance seaward many hundreds of miles. 

The Frigate-Bird is the representative of this species, the swiftest 
ranger of the ocean, whose extended wings measure a width of 
seven feet. How this bird treats the unfortunate " booby " (also a 
fish-hunter) is described by Mr. Gosse, who says : 

" Every one who has read the romantic narratives of the old 
voyagers is familiar with the name of the booby, so termed by sea- 
men from its apparent stupidity and familiarity, suffering itself to 
be knocked down by a stick, or taken by the hand when it alights, 
as it often does, on the spars or shrouds of a vessel. This habit 
seems quite unaccountable. Many birds have manifested a similar 
fearlessness of man when first discovered, but have soon learned 
the necessity of precaution ; but the booby will manifest the same 
unnatural tameness after being long accustomed to the cruelty of 



THE FRIGATE-BIRD AND THE BOOBY. 387 

man. It does not arise from helplessness, as it is a bird of powerful 
wing, like its relative the common gannet ; neither is it a sufficient 
explanation to affirm, as is sometimes done, that it arises from a 
peculiar difficulty in rising to flight after alighting, because it is not 
unfrequently caught in the air by the hand, so incautiously does it 
approach man. Notwithstanding this apparent stupidity, the booby 
is a dexterous fisher. Hovering over a shoal of fishes, he eagerly 
watches their motions, turning his head from side to side in a very 
ludicrous manner. He presently sees one of the unwary group 
approach the surface : down he pounces like a stone, plunging into 
the waves, which boil into foam with the shock. Nor fails he to 
seize the scaly victim, with which he emerges into the air, and 
soon it is lodged whole in his capacious stomach. But the frigate- 
bird has watched the proceeding, and instantly betakes himself to 
the pursuit. Sweeping down upon the unfortunate booby, he com- 
pels him to disgorge the fish which he has just swallowed, and 
which, long before it can reach the water, is seized and again de- 
voured by the oppressor. 

The frigate-bird neither swims nor dives ; the seamen even be- 
lieve that it sleeps on the wing : whether this be so or not, there 
is good evidence that the same individuals will remain in the air 
for several successive days ; they are never known to alight on a 
vessel. Though the chase of the booby is so usual as to be con- 
sidered one of its constant means of dependence, yet it also fishes 
for itself ; precluded, however, from plunging into the sea, it can 
take only such as, like the flying-fish, leap into another element. 
With such success, however, does it attack these, that it has been 
seen to snap up three in succession in the course of a few minutes." 

The frigates fly with great rapidity, and brave the tempests by 
shooting above their region and remaining balanced in the air until 
they can alight upon some rock to rest, for the length of their wings 
would prevent them from rising either from the waves or the ground. 
Their sight must also be remarkably piercing to enable them to 
discover, at such distances as quite escape our vision, the places 
where pass the flying-fishes, their chief relish. Instead of precipi- 
tating their head foremost, like birds which have the faculty of 

35—3 



388 SEA-BIRDS USEFUL SCAVENGERS. 

diving, the frigate holds its neck and feet in a horizontal direction, 
striking the upper column of air with its wings, then, raising and 
fixing them one against the other above its back, it darts on its 
prey with such address and velocity that it rarely escapes. The 
tropic birds, like the cormorant, perch on the highest trees, and 
make their nests in the holes of precipitous rocks or in the hollows 
of trees. The young, while in the nest gathered up in a ball and 
covered with a down of the most brilliant white, have a resem- 
blance to powder-puffs. Of the long tail-feathers — sometimes 
twenty-four inches — the Otaheitans make plumes for their warriors* 

The Boobies have been met with in every sea and in every quarter 
of the globe. They fly with the neck extended, the tail spread 
out, and the wings almost motionless. Their cry participates of 
those of the goose and raven. They remove much less from land 
than the frigate-birds. 

In concluding these necessarily brief remarks on marine birds, 
I am glad to mention that the beneficial effects of the " Sea-Birds 
Preservation Act " — a Parlimentary Act of the greatest importance, 
for giving the persecuted birds a chance of hatching and rearing 
their young in peace and safety — has already manifested most suc- 
cessful results. The wholesale destruction of these beautiful and 
useful birds called loudly for some repressive measures on their 
behalf. One essential benefit gained by the wholesome guardian- 
ship of the sea-birds during their breeding season is that they now 
come with every confidence and in great numbers into our har- 
bours and bays, and do incalculable good as indefatigable removers 
of nuisances, removing garbage of all descriptions, which, if allowed 
to float on the water or fester between tide-ways, would occasioi 
dangerous maladies. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SENTINELS OF THE SEAS. 

" The rocky ledge runs far into the sea, 

And on its outer point, some miles away, 
The lighthouse lifts its solid masonry, — 
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day. 

" Even at this distance I can see the tides, 
Upheaving, break unheard along its base, 
A speechless wrath that rises and subsides 
In the white lip and tremour of the face. 

41 And as the evening darkens, lo ! how bright 
Through the deep twilight of the purple air 
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light, 
With strange unearthly splendour in its glare ! 

•• Not one alone; from each projecting cape 
And perilous reef along the ocean's verge, 
Starts into life a dim gigantic shape, 

Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge. 

* And the great ships sail outward and return, 
Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells, 
And ever joyful as they see it burn, 

They wave their silent welcomes and farewells." 

Longfellow, 




[HERE can be no object, my young friends, more sug- 
gestive of pleasant thoughts, of home, of peace, and 
security, than a lighthouse. Whether placed upon a 
headland overlooking a wide expanse of ocean, or on a rock lashed 

389 



39d £ A RITES T ALLUSIONS TO LIGHTHOUSES. 

by the foaming billows, it is a welcome sight to the traveller re- 
turning to his native country after a long absence, and it is a 
grateful object to those who are leaving home for distant regions, 
who, after leaving port, can trace for many miles the friendly light, 
the last visible connection that unites their thoughts to those who 
are left behind. 

The absence of the lights that stream over the heaving waters 
would indeed be a calamity ; indicative, probably, of war's fatal 
struggles, when a nation dreading hostile invasion would seek to 
foil their enemies by extinguishing these lights, and thus leaving 
them to the perils of shoals and quicksands, of breakers and the 
rocks. Without these glimmering lights it would be impossible to 
guide a ship through the perilous ocean \ commerce would languish, 
and all the civilizing influences encouraged by trade would be lost. 

The earliest allusion to lighthouses or " beacons " to guide the 
mariner on his sea-journey, date from a remote period. Homer — ■ 
who is supposed to have lived before the year 776 preceding the 
birth of our Saviour — alluding to the shield of Achilles, beautifully 
describes the flash of a beacon-light in some solitary place, as seen 
by seamen leaving their friends, in verses which contain ample 
proof of the existence of such a provision for the mariner's safety 
in the poet's time. 

From ancient historians we learn that navigation made its first 
efforts in the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf; in these 
places the first operations of commerce by water were carried on. 
The voyages of the Egyptians and the Phoenicians (the most 
ancient seafaring people mentioned in history) were made in the 
Mediterranean. Their trade, however, was not confined to the 
countries bordering upon it ; but by acquiring possession of ports 
in the Arabian Gulf, they extended the range of their commerce, 
and are represented as the first people of the West who opened a 
communication by sea with India. For a long period the art of 
navigation lay in a dormant state : the invention of the compass 
had not given confidence to the mariner. The Arabians and the 
Chinese, the early Greeks and Romans, steered cautiously along 
the coast, stretching out so far at sea as not to lose sight of land, 



THE PHAROS, THE OLDEST LIGHTHOUSE, 391 

and as they shaped their course in this timid manner their mode 
of reckoning was defective. « 

There is some reason for believing that the lighthouses or sacred 
towers of antiquity were dedicated to the heathen gods, and that 
sacrifices were made in them to appease the raging storm and to 
pray for the safety of the mariner. These light-towers are also said 
to have been used as naval schools, in which astronomy and the 
art of navigation were taught. These buildings are described as 
having been of stone, sometimes of large dimensions, with a kind 
of altar within, covered with a plate or brazen dish. These towers 
were numerous; almost every promontory had its lighthouse or 
temple. In the fortifications of the early ages, the fire-tower was 
a prominent portion of the buildings. In Italy especially, where 
the sea-shore formed the point of attack for pirates, watch-towers 
were erected, from which grates for holding the fuel were suspended 
by night. The watchmen of these towers by day were provided 
with large sea-conches or shells, which they frequently sounded, to 
warn the mariner of his situation, and to alarm the country in case 
of invasion. 

The oldest lighthouse on record is the celebrated Pharos, erected 
on the Egyptian coast, which, being very low land, and exposed 
almost entirely to the west winds coming up the Mediterranean 
from the vast Atlantic, must of necessity have made the port of 
Alexandria very dangerous. This lighthouse was erected three 
hundred years before the birth of our Saviour, by the order of 
Ptolemy Philadelphus (a great patron of learning and the arts), 
for the convenience of the Phoenician merchants who constantly 
traded with Egypt. 

The island of Pharos, upon which the lighthouse was erected^ 
was said, in the time of Homer, to be one day's sail from the Delta 
(a triangular portion of Lower Egypt comprised between the two 
main branches of the Nile, and so called from its resemblance to the 
Greek letter D, ^) ; whereas, since the foundation of Alexandria, 
it was only a mile in distance, and was even joined to the mainland 
by a mole or artificial embankment having a bridge at each end. 

This tower, if statements are true, was justly entitled to the 



;392 COLOSSAL STATUE OF APOLLO AT RHODES. 

(honour claimed for it as one of the seven wonders of the world. 
It is stated to have been five hundred and fifty feet in height, and 
the cost of erection was equivalent, in our money, to one hundred 
and fifty-four thousand four hundred pounds. The architect was 
Sostratus, the constructor of many public buildings in Alexandria. 
The lighthouse consisted of several storeys, one raised above the 
other, each decorated with columns, balustrades, and galleries made 
of the finest marble and of the most exquisite workmanship. It has 
been said that Sostratus furnished the galleries with large mirrors, 
by which shipping could be seen at a considerable distance. A 
fire was kept constantly burning on the summit, and, according to 
Josephus, the Jewish historian, the light was seen at the distance 
of three hundred stadii (about forty-two British miles). 

In more modern times the Turks erected two forts on the points 
occupied by this Pharos, one of which was the site of the far-famed 
lighthouse. 

The celebrated colossal statue of Apollo at Rhodes is said to 
have supplied the purpose of a lighthouse. This figure was of 
bronze, and a period of twelve years is stated to have been em- 
ployed in constructing it by Chares, of Lindus, three hundred years 
before the Christian era. The expenses of erection amounted to a 
sum estimated in our money at nearly fifty-eight thousand pounds. 
The gigantic size of this figure may be conceived from the account 
given, that few men were able to encompass one of its thumbs with 
their arms. The Rhodians placed this brazen sentinel at the en- 
trance of their port. The heathen deity was represented wearing 
a radiant crown, holding -in one hand an arrow, and in the other a 
brazier containing fire. This stupendous statue was overthrown by 
an earthquake about eighty years after its erection ; and when the 
Saracens took Rhodes in 667, they loaded one hundred camels 
with the bronze that remained, and the rest was sold afterwards to 
a Jewish merchant for a sum equivalent in our money to thirty-six 
thousand pounds. Mr. Newton, in his recent " Travels and Dis- 
coveries in the Levant," supposes that he found some relics of the 
brazen Colossus. 

An edifice, called by the inhabitants of the Archipelago the 



ROMAN LIGHTHOUSE AT DOVER. 393 

" Lamp of Diogenes," stood on the shores of the ^Egean Sea. It 
was a tomb erected in memory of Diogenes, who had such a know- 
ledge of the art of navigation that no ancient mariner would under- 
take a voyage without consulting him. At the angles of this building 
were columns, on which fires were placed for the service of vessels 
navigating those dangerous seas. 

In the earliest annals of our own country we find but scanty 
notices of coast-lights. The ancient Britons never made long voy- 
ages, although the Druids are said to have been acquainted with 
the magnet and the compass. There is no doubt that " beacons" 
or " watch-fires " were extensively used by the Romans in Britain. 
The harbours were strongly fortified, especially at the entrance, 
where they had a pharos or watch-tower, with lights to direct the 
course of ships in the night-time. The lighthouse erected by the 
Romans at Boulogne, to guide the vessels which passed from 
Britain into Gaul, was still to be traced in 1643. ** was an e ig nt> 
sided tower, with twelve stages or floors, rising to the height of one 
hundred and twenty-five feet. The remains of the Roman pharos 
or lighthouse at Dover proves the great ability of that wonderful 
people in their constructions. These ruins consist of an eight- 
sided tower, thirty or forty feet high, and which was, probably, of 
a much greater height. The walls are at least ten feet thick. This 
lighthouse is said to have been erected during the governorship of 
Britain by Aulius Plautius and Ostorius Scapula, the latter of whom 
left our country in the year 53. There are other remains of Roman 
lighthouses in England, but this at Dover is the most perfect illus- 
tration of the kind we possess. 

During the Saxon period individuals were appointed to erect 
beacons, for the purposes of navigation, as necessity required, and 
the expenses were defrayed by the country. Some description of 
lighthouse seems to have stood at Winchelsea, Yarmouth, and other 
places from a very early period. In 1261 Henry III. issued a pre- 
cept, that every ship laden with merchandise going to those ports, 
for the two following years, should pay twopence for the mainte- 
nance of the lights, unless it was shown that the barons had been 
accustomed to maintain lights at their own cost. 



394 THE TOUR DE CORDUAN LIGHTHOUSE. 

Concerning beacons, Lord Coke says: "Before the reign of 
Edward III. they were but stacks of wood set on high places, which 
were fired when the coming of enemies was descried ; but in his 
reign, pitch-boxes (as now they be), instead of these stacks, were 
set up." 

It was not until the reign of Elizabeth that active measures were 
taken to secure some permanent means for the erection and man- 
agement of lighthouses. In the eighth year of this Queen's sove- 
reignty an Act was passed, enabling the corporation of the Trinity 
Board to preserve ancient sea-marks and " signs for the sea." During 
this reign, in 1584, the Tour de Corduan was founded — a light- 
house which, in point of architectural effect, is the noblest edifice 
in the world. It is situated on an extensive reef at the mouth of 
the Garonne, serving as a guide to the shipping of Bordeaux and the 
Languedoc Canal, and, indeed, of all that part of the Bay of Biscay. 
This building (which was not completed until 16 10, under Henry 
IV. of France) is one hundred and ninety-seven feet in height, and 
consists of a pile of masonry forming successive galleries, surrounded 
by a conical tower, which terminates in the lantern. Round the 
base is a wall one hundred and thirty-four feet in diameter, in 
which the lighthouse-keepers' apartments are formed. This wall 
is an outwork of defence, and receives the chief shock of the waves. 
The tower itself contains a chapel and various apartments, and the 
ascent is by a spacious staircase. This lighthouse was the only 
stone erection of its character out at sea in Europe, before the 
Eddystone Lighthouse was completed. 

In the reign of Charles I. there are a few notices of lighthouses, 
which will serve to give some idea of the structures which were 
then raised for this important object. The first distinct intimation 
concerning a lighthouse on the North Forelands in Kent is in 1636, 
when that monarch granted a licence to continue and renew the 
buildings of the North and South Forelands. It seems that the 
lighthouse on the former height consisted merely of a small dwel- 
ling of timber, lath, and plaster, on the top of which a light was 
kept in a large glass lantern. This house, as might have been 
predicted, was burnt down in 1683, after which for some years a 



Lighthouse on the eddystone rocks. 395 

sort of beacon was used, but at the close of the same century a 
strong structure of flint was erected, on the top of which was an 
iron grate open to the air, in which a large fire of coals was kept 
blazing all night. 

James II. granted the Trinity Board a fresh charter, which is 
now in force, and to this institution is entrusted the management 
and control of these invaluable "sentinels of the seas." The 
annual revenues of the corporation are very considerable, being 
derived from a toll varying between half a farthing and one penny 
per ton on shipping, which in return receives benefit from the 
lights, beacons, buoys, and ballast supplied by the board. 

One of the greatest achievements of modern science in con- 
nexion with lighthouses is that effected by the famous engineer 
Smeaton on the dangerous Eddystone rocks, about fourteen miles 
distance from Plymouth, which are so exposed to the heavy swells 
from the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic that the waves beat upon 
them at times with fearful violence. In 1696, notwithstanding the 
many difficulties which seemed to interfere with the erection of a 
lighthouse on rocks so situated, Henry Winstanley succeeded in 
accomplishing (for a time) the desired object. This gentleman 
was remarkable for his mechanical ingenuity ; his house at Little- 
bury was full of curious objects manufactured by his own hand. 
On kicking an old slipper, placed as it were by accident on the 
floor of a room, a figure would start up representing a ghost. On 
sitting down in a particular chair, a couple of arms would immedi- 
ately enfold the frightened intruder with such force that the assist- 
ance of an attendant was required to set him free. When sitting 
down in a certain arbour in the grounds by the side of a canal, a 
stranger would find himself drawn into the middle of the stream on 
a movable raft, which remained there until drawn back to its place 
by an attendant. These and many other singular contrivances 
amused the public, and determined Winstanley to open an exhibi* 
tion in his own name in London. 

The lighthouse on the Eddystone rocks was commenced in 1696, 
and the first light appeared on the 14th November, 1698. Finding 
that the tower was greatly exposed during the storms of winter— 



396 DESTRUCTION OF WINSTANLEY'S LIGHTHOUSE, 

the waves covering the lantern at times, although at the height of 
sixty feet — Winstanley encompassed the building with a new work 
of four feet in thickness from the foundation, making all solid to 
the height of twenty feet; he also took down the upper part of 
the first building, and enlarging every part in its proportion, raised 
it forty feet higher than it was originally, and yet the sea in stormy 
weather rose one hundred feet above the vane, and at times covered 
half the side of the house and the lantern, as if they were under 
water. The building was so fantastically constructed (in appear- 
ance like a Chinese pagoda), and seemed so slight, that general 
opinion was against its security, but the architect himself was so 
firmly convinced of its stability that he frequently wished he might 
be there in the greatest storm that could happen. This desire was 
fatally gratified. In November, 1703, Winstanley went out to the 
rocks to superintend some repairs, and that very night a fearful 
tempest arose, which so increased the following day, that the light- 
house and all its inmates were swept in the foaming waters. Gay, 
in his " Trivia," alludes to this calamity : 

" Famed Eddystone's far-shooting ray, 
That led the sailor through the stormy way, 
Was from its rocky roots by billows torn, 
And the huge turret in the whirlwind borne. " 

Nearly three years elapsed after this sad event before another 
attempt was made to replace the lighthouse on the Eddystone 
rocks, when John Rudyard, a silk-mercer of London, and a man 
of remarkable mechanical abilities, was selected for the purpose. 
The building was commenced in 1706, and was lighted two years 
afterwards. It was during its construction that an incident occurred 
which is highly creditable to the justice of Louis XIV., then King 
of France. The two nations, England and France, were then at 
war, and a French privateer took the men who were working at 
the lighthouse and carried them away prisoners, expecting a reward 
for this achievement. The monarch, however, ordered the men to 
be released and the captors to be put in their places, declaring 
" that although he was at war with England, he was not so with all 
mankind : the Eddystone lighthouse was so situated as to be ot 



RUD YARD'S LIGHTHOUSE CONSUMED BY FIRE. 397 

• equal service to all nations." The Englishmen were conveyed 
back to their work, after receiving handsome presents. 

Rudyard's lighthouse enjoyed an immunity from serious acci- 
dents for a space of thirty-eight years, when, at the close of 1744, 
a fearful storm occurred, in which the ship "Victory" was lost close 
to the building, which was considerably damaged in consequence, 
and an opening made into the store-room. In 1755 the catastophe 
occurred which destroyed the lighthouse. On the 2nd December 
in that year, the lighthouse-keeper then on watch, about two o'clock 
in the morning, went into the lantern to snuff the candles. He 
found the whole place in a smoke, and upon opening the door of 
the lantern into the balcony, a flame instantly burst from the inside 
of the cupola. He endeavoured to alarm his companions, but they 
being fast asleep were not able to come to his assistance so readily 
as the occasion required. He attempted to extinguish the flames 
with some water kept in a tub in the lantern, but the fire increasing, 
the poor fellow found himself unable to stop its progress. As he 
was looking upwards, a quantity of molten lead suddenly rushed 
like a torrent from the roof, and falling upon his head, face, and 
shoulders, burnt him fearfully. His companions, dismayed at the 
extent of the conflagration, descended to the rock, with little hope 
of being saved. It seems that at an early hour the flames were 
seen by some of the Cawsand fishermen ; and on intelligence being 
given, a fishing-boat, manned with a strong crew, was dispatched 
at once. The boat arrived about eight hours after the fire had 
broken out, during which time the three keepers of the lighthouse 
had not only been driven from all the rooms and the staircase, but 
to avoid the fall of the timber and red-hot bolts, they were found 
sitting in a hole or cave, on the east side of the rock, almost in a 
state of stupefaction. They were conveyed safely to Plymouth. 
Henry Hall, of Stonehouse, who had received such fearful injuries 
from the molten lead, had attained the age of ninety-four. On his 
death a solid piece of lead was found in his body, weighing up- 
wards of seven ounces. 

This fire occurred in T753, and it was then determined that the 
lighthouse should be constructed of stone* and that no expense 



398 S ME ATOM'S ERECTION ON THE EDDYSTONR. 

should be spared to render it the most perfect of its kind. The 
architect chosen was the famous John Smeaton, one of the most 
extraordinary men of the age. The first stone of the edifice was 
laid the 12th June, 1757, and the whole undertaking of constructing 
the lighthouse was accomplished within a space of little more than 
three years, without the loss of life or limb to those engaged in the 
perilous undertaking. It was an anxious *time for Smeaton and 
those who were engaged with him. When the weather was tem- 
pestuous the lighthouse was inaccessible. One of the keepers, 
Henry Edwards, after a heavy storm had prevented any boat from 
approaching the rocks, sent a note to the manager of the works, 
stating " that the sea ran over the house in such a manner that 
for twelve days together they could not open the door of the lan- 
tern, nor any other. The house shook as if a man had been up in 
a great tree. The old men were almost frightened out of their 
lives, wishing they had never seen the place. The fear occasioned 
pains in the back, but rubbing them with oil of turpentine gave 
them relief." The lighthouse itself bore the storm admirably, and 
suffered nothing from it. 

The present edifice is a circular tower sweeping up with a gentle 
curve from the base, and gradually diminishing to the top. The 
upper extremity is furnished with a kind of cornice, and is sur- 
mounted by a lantern, having a gallery around it with an iron 
balustrade. The tower is furnished with a door, and windows, and 
staircase. Round the upper store-room is the inscription : " Except 
the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. — Psalm 
cxxvii." Over each side of the lantern are the words and date : 
"August 24th, 1759. Laus Deo." 

On the completion of this structure only two light-keepers were 
stationed in charge, but an incident of a very extraordinary and 
distressing nature occurred which showed the necessity of an addi- 
tional keeper. One of the two guardians of the lighthouse became 
ill and died ; the dilemma in which this occurrence left the survivor 
was singularly painful. Apprehensive that if he threw the dead 
body of his companion into the sea — which was the only mode in 
his power of disposing of it — he might be charged with murder, he 



THE BELL-ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. 399 

let the corpse lie, in hopes that the attending boat might be able 
to land, and relieve him from his distress. The body, however, be- 
came so putrid that it was not in his power to get rid of it without 
help, for it was nearly a month before the boat could effect a land- 
ing, owing to the severe weather. The assistance at length came, 
the corpse was thrown into the sea, but it was some time before 
the rooms in the lighthouse could be properly purified. 

The greatest achievement in the erection of lighthouses since the 
days of Smeaton is that of the "Bell-Rock" tower in Scotland, 
built upon a dangerous sunken reef, about eleven miles from 
Arbroath, on the northern side of the entrance of the great estuary 
or arm of the sea called the Firth of Forth, and, as such, directly 
affecting the safety of all vessels entering the Firth of Tay. The 
" Inchcape," or Bell-Rock, had always been a perilous point to 
navigators, and in former times a bell was placed there by the 
Abbot of Aberbrothock, or Arbroath, which was put in movement 
by the waves. This was the only expedient that our ancestors 
could then devise. According to tradition, some pirates having 
carried off this bell, were, on a subsequent voyage, lost on the same 
rock. Southey's thrilling ballad of the " Inchcape Bell " is founded 
on this legend. 

The building was commenced in 1807 (17th August), under the 
control of Mr. Robert Stephenson, the engineer to the Lighthouse 
Board, and whose plan — a tower of masonry, on the principle of the 
Eddystone Lighthouse — was adopted. From an account of these 
operations written by that eminent engineer, we learn how severe 
and perilous was the undertaking, the rock being only dry for a 
few hours at spring-tides, and affording but little time for laying 
the foundations of the building with the requisite security. This, 
however, under many difficulties, was effected, and the first stone 
of the lighthouse laid 10th July, 1808, at the depth of sixteen feet 
below high water at spring-tide. The whole of the masonry to the 
height of thirty feet was completed in 1810, the light being ex- 
hibited for the first time 1st February, 181 1. 

The most anxious period of Mr. Stephenson's personal superin- 
tendence of the erection of the lighthouse occurred in 1807, when 



400 PERILOUS SITUATION OF STEPHENSON. 

the "Smeaton," a small vessel employed for the service of the work- 
people, and moored to the rock, broke from her moorings and drifted 
away. Having both wind and tide against her, Stephenson, who was 
on the rock with his workmen, perceived with great anxiety that 
the vessel could not possibly return to the rock until it was covered 
by water, and the safety of the workmen and himself was thus im- 
perilled. They were on a sunken rock in the middle of the ocean, 
which, in the progress of flood-tide, would be laid under water to 
the depth of at least twelve feet in a stormy sea. There ^ere on 
that morning thirty-two persons at work on that rock, with only 
two boats which could contain only in fair weather twenty-four 
sitters, but to row to the floating light as a place of refuge, with 
so heavy a sea, eight men in each boat were as much as could with 
safety be attempted. In this manner only half the number of men 
on the rock could expect to get a chance of escape from a horrible 
death. Meanwhile the men were at work, little dreaming of the 
fearful position in which they were placed ; but at length the water 
began to rise, and they became aware of their condition. At this 
critical moment Mr. Stephenson was standing on an elevated part 
of the rock, whence he endeavoured to trace the position of the 
"Smeaton." The melancholy solemnity of the group around him 
made a deep impression on his mind. He was considering various 
means of saving them, and the only chance seemed to be that they 
should embark in the two boats when the water rose high, and 
take their chance of being picked up. He was about to address 
the men, when a large boat was seen through the haze, making 
towards the rock. This at once rejoiced every heart. It proved 
to be the boat of James Spink, the Bell-Rock pilot. He had come 
from Arbroath with letters. Spink had for some time seen the 
" Smeaton," and had even supposed, from the state of the weather, 
that all the workmen from the rock were on board, until he 
approached more closely, and then observed people upon the rock. 
Not supposing, however, that the assistance of his boat was neces- 
sary, he anchored on the lee-side of the rock and began to fish, 
waiting, as usual, until the letters were sent for, as his boat was 
too large and unwieldy to approach the rock when there was any 



?tt£ SKERRYVOR& LIGHTHOUSE. 401 

roughness or run of the sea at the entrance of the landing-creeks. 
Upon this fortunate change of circumstances, sixteen of the work- 
men were sent in two trips in one of the boats, with instructions 
for Spink to proceed with them to the temporary floating light. 
This being accomplished, the remaining sixteen followed in the 
two boats belonging to the service of the rock. Every one felt the 
most perfect happiness at leaving the Bell-Rock that morning, though 
a very hard and even dangerous passage to the floating light still 
awaited them, as the winds had increased by this time to a hard 
gale, accompanied with a considerable swell of sea. The boats 
left the rock about nine o'clock, but did not reach the vessel until 
twelve. Every one was completely drenched in water, and after 
much baling of water and severe work at the oars, the three boats 
reached the floating light. 

There can be no doubt that the opportune arrival of James Spink 
and his boat on this critical occasion was the means of preventing 
a fearful loss of life at the rock ; and it is pleasing to add that the 
worthy pilot, then in his seventieth year, received a small pension 
for his services. 

On the completion of the lighthouse, the keepers were at first 
alarmed on seeing the waves beat in stormy weather most furiously 
against the building. The sea rose to a height exceeding one 
hundred feet above the surface of the rock, and the vibration of 
the building was very great. 

On the 14th of November, 18 t 2, at high water in the evening, 
a tremendous sea struck the lighthouse ; the locks upon the doors 
were heard to rattle,, and the whole building was shaken. The 
lighthouse-keepers sprang up into the balcony, thinking that some 
vessel had struck upon the rock. The tower, however, stood firm, 
and has ever since sustained its character for solidity. 

Another celebrated stone lighthouse on the Scottish coast is that 
placed on the " Skerryvore " rocks, which lie about twelve miles 
off the Isle of Tyree, in Argyllshire. These rocks were for a long 
period the terror of mariners, and numerous shipwrecks had oc- 
curred in their vicinity. Owing to the great difficulty of landing 
upon these rocks, which are worn smooth by the continual beating 

26 



452 SELLS EMPLOYED AT LIGHTHOUSES. 

of the Atlantic waves, it was not until 1834 that the idea of erect- 
ing a lighthouse was seriously entertained. In such a situation 
as that of Skerryvore everything had to be provided beforehand, 
and transported from a distance. The design for the building was 
made by Mr. Alan Stephenson, son of the celebrated architect of 
the Bell-Rock Lighthouse, and was an adaptation of Smeaton's 
Eddystone tower. Many were the vicissitudes and privations ex- 
perienced in this undertaking, but Providence blessed the result, 
and this stately and noble building remains a boon to seamen, the 
signal of trust and confidence to the sea-bound mariner. 

Other important lighthouses of stone might be mentioned, such 
as the " Bishop Rock," the " Needles," the " Smalls," &c. Iron 
lighthouses have of late been erected, and appear to be admirably 
suited to the purpose, and comparatively inexpensive. The 
" Northfleet " is built of this material, and is in open skeleton- 
work. Iron lighthouses have been adopted in several of the British 
colonies. 

With regard to the height of lighthouses, from one hundred and 
fifty to two hundred feet is generally considered the best elevation 
for the height of a light above the water, but this must of course 
depend upon the locality. The greatest height on the coast of 
England is that of Lundy Island, five hundred and forty feet above 
the sea. In Scotland, Barrahead Light is six hundred and eighty 
feet high. In Ireland, the Skelligs are three hundred and seventy- 
two feet high. 

Bells, as a warning to mariners, have been and are still generally 
employed at lighthouses as one of the best modes of signalling in 
times of fogs. I have already alluded to the Inchcape Bell, and 
to Mr. Stephenson's lighthouse on that dangerous rock. The ma- 
chinery which causes the reflectors to revolve every half-minute is 
made to ring two large bells, each weighing about twelve hundred- 
weight, to warn the seaman of his danger when too near this rock. 

In some lighthouses guns are fired during fogs : at those in Nova 
Scotia, horns are sounded during fogs, and these are heard at a 
distance of three miles. In the South-Stack Lighthouse, near 
Holyhead, built on the middle of an island under a cliff, and con- 



Illumination of lighthouses. 403 

nected with the mainland by a bridge, tamed sea-birds are employed 
as signals. The gulls perch on the walls of the lighthouse, and 
utter cries that warn the sailor. This lighthouse has a bell and 
a gun, but the natural signal has been judged so superior that the 
cannon has been removed some distance from the rock for fear lest 
the noise should startle the birds. In this island the young gulls 
run about among the white rabbits, with whom they live on the 
most intimate terms. 

Gongs are used in several lighthouses, and are found of great 
use. 

Professor Holmes invented a steam trumpet, the sound of which 
is heard at a considerable distance. The instrument can be tuned 
at will, and thus produces different notes. A small quantity of 
steam suffices. 

In Scotland whistles are placed in the lanterns of the lighthouses, 
and these communicate by tubes with the rooms below, in order 
to summon assistance if required, and thus avoid the necessity of 
the keeper in charge leaving his post until relieved. 

In the absence of any authority respecting the material with 
which the earliest lighthouses were illuminated, we may naturally 
conclude that wood furnished the means, with any other substance 
which would give intensity to the flame, or contribute to its duration. 

Among the Greeks the beacon consisted of an iron or brazen 
frame, wherein were three or four bars which stood upon a circular 
base of the same metal. They were bound with a hoop, and thus 
made capable of containing combustible matter. This was placed 
upon a high pole, and hung sloping, seaward, over the battlements 
of a tower or from the stern of a ship. 

In our own country, lighthouses from an early period appear to 
have been illuminated by coal or wood fires contained in pans. 
At the close of the seventeeth century an iron grate on the top of 
the North Foreland Lighthouse, in Kent, contained a coal fire 
open to the air; and later, in 1732, the top of the tower was 
covered with a sort of lantern with large sash windows, and the 
light of the fire was kept up by bellows, which were moved during 
the night by attendants. The last coal-light — that of St Bee's in 

26 — 2 



404 THE "FRESNEL" SVSTEM OF LIGHTING. 

Cumberland — was only extinguished in 1822. To coal fires suc- 
ceeded tallow candles, and these were fastened in wooden rods, a? 
they are sometimes seen arranged before booths in fairs. These 
were in use for forty years at the Eddystone Lighthouse after it 
was completed by Smeaton. 

The use of oil does not seem to date back beyond 1730 : lamps 
with twisted cotton wicks were used, but these were always attended 
with smoke and a bad smell. The first decided improvement was 
made by M. Argand, a native of Geneva, who, in 1784, invented 
a lamp with a circular wick. The flame thus became a hollow 
cylinder, with a current of air ascending through the inside, so 
that the burning surface was doubled. To make these lamps more 
effective for lighthouses, and to prevent the rays of light from 
escaping on all sides, a reflector was added by M. Lenoir. This 
threw the light forward in parallel rays towards such points of the 
horizon as would be useful to mariners ; but M. Augustin Fresnel 
was the first to introduce lenticular action into lighthouse illumina- 
tion by the adoption of the annular or built lens. Along with 
Arago, he investigated the action exercised by polarized rays of light 
on each other, and the practical application of his theory to the im- 
provement of the lighthouse system was of immense value, and 
quite abolished the old method of illuminating the " sea sentinels." 

Among the later adaptations for this object are the introduction 
of gas, but this is attended by the uncertainty and other objections 
connected with its manufacture and use in remote and inaccessible 
places. It is, however, of great convenience and use in harbour 
lights. 

The attention of scientific men, as far as lighthouses are con- 
cerned, is now almost confined to the discovery of the best modes 
of producing the light. That in ordinary use leaves little to be 
desired when the weather is tolerably clear ; since a first-class oil 
light, at the height on which it is usually elevated, is visible from 
the masthead when the vessel comes above the horizon of the 
lighthouse. It is in hazy weather that a more intense light becomes 
desirable. There is the " Drummond " light, which consists in sub- 
stituting for the Argand burner a small ball of lime ignited by the 



THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 405 

combustion of oxygen and hydrogen ; but the difficulty of obtain- 
ing a continuous combustion has hitherto prevented the adoption 
of this means of illumination in lighthouses. The " electric " light, 
discovered by the late Professor Faraday, has undergone careful 
trials by the Government authorities. It possesses an advantage 
from its not being a mere spark of very small size, as compared 
with an oil lamp of the same power ; for this enables much smaller 
optical apparatus to be used, occasioning not only a saving of cost, 
but a saving of light — the loss of light being less when the glass is 
thinner. The electro-magnetic light at the South Foreland, in 
Kent, has been seen thirty minutes after losing sight of the lower 
lights — that is, at the rate of a steamer's progress — a distance of 
about seven miles. There seem to be, however, impediments which 
render the electric light impracticable on rock stations, such as the 
Eddystone and the Bell-Rock Lighthouses. 

To these notices of the structures raised for the guidance and 
security of mariners, I will now add some observations on the 
animated sentinels of the seas : those men to whose care these all- 
important buildings are entrusted. Life in a lighthouse would seem 
to us a terrible hardship. Perhaps one of the worst of criminals, 
who might be indifferent to most kinds of penal punishment, would 
be terrified if he were condemned to pass the remainder of his life 
on a solitary rock amidst the wild ocean. It would appear, indeed, 
difficult to reconcile the mind to a service so lonely and peculiar, 
not unfrequently attended at some places with risks and privations, 
and requiring an amount of vigilance and responsibility not very 
tempting to most men in search of employment. Yet it appears 
that these situations are frequently sought after, and by persons 
w r ho have been engaged in far different occupations. Some of these 
applicants have been carpenters, blacksmiths, domestic servants, 
butchers, bricklayers, painters, bakers, coopers, tailors, &c. Among 
these individuals there are doubtless some whose taste for solitude 
may have induced them to forsake their occupations among the 
busy haunts of society, and others, perhaps, to whom the novelty 
of the employment might offer some attraction ; but it is a singular 
circumstance, that almost all who have adopted a lighthouse for 






406 THE "ANIMATED" SENTINELS OF THE SEAS. 

their home seem to have been satisfied with their choice, and some 
even have boasted that they would not change their solitary lot 
for any other. One of the keepers of the Casket Rocks Light- 
house, in the Channel, whose life is ordinarily spent on those bleak 
rocks far out at sea, after a temporary absence on shore, returned, 
declaring "he had no wish to enter the great world again." 

The long service of many of these solitary watchers shows how 
readily the mind adapts itself to strange circumstances. Several 
of these worthy men have been born in the service ; instances are 
recorded in the " Returns " of the Trinity Board, of thirty, forty, 
and fifty years' service. Another subject of remark is the large 
families of several of the keepers : ten, twelve, and fourteen chil- 
dren being stated in the " Returns " as the number of some of the 
families in lighthouses. In all the English and Scotch lighthouses 
the men are as comfortably lodged as circumstances will permit. 
They are provided with books, a great boon to men who pass so 
much of their time in solitude. In France the keepers are allowed 
to have an arm-chair, but in Great Britain this luxury is forbidden. 
In Denmark, where the lighthouse may be on land, the men have a 
piece of ground granted to them large enough to maintain a couple 
of cows. 

Many lighthouse-keepers employ their leisure time in various 
pursuits. Their chief duty is to keep the apparatus for the lights 
in the most clean and polished condition. The Trinity Board 
Commissioners require particular care in these respects. During 
one of their visits to the Youghal Lighthouse, they had occasion to 
remark the unusual brilliancy of the brass-work, when it appeared 
that the keeper had been butler in a gentleman's family, and had 
turned his experience in cleaning plate to the advantage of the 
lighthouse. Where the situation of the building permits, the 
keepers add to the stock of provisions supplied them from the 
shore by fishing and the cultivation of a small garden ; but this 
latter luxury is enjoyed but by few, as the rocks on which light- 
houses are placed are bleak and barren, and in many cases are 
entirely destitute of verdure. Most of the men are good carpenters ; 
one, mentioned in the "Returns," was the owner of a turning- lathe, 



HARDSHIPS OF LIGHTHOUSE-KEEPERS. 407 

which he had taught himself to use with great dexterity ; another 
practised photography. 

Thus far I have given a somewhat pleasing picture of life in a 
lighthouse ; but I must not omit to tell you that these courageous 
sentinels of the seas are often exposed to severe hardships and 
perils. The storms, which are sometimes continuous for days, lash 
the waves of the ocean into fury round the lighthouses, and prevent 
any communication with shore, by which much distress for want of 1 
provisions is occasioned. 

In the South Rock Lighthouse, in the Irish seas, the waves at 
high water cover the rock, and at high tide rises up the tower 
to the height of eighteen feet. The spray goes over the building, 
which, in heavy weather, shakes to the foundation. The Longship 
Lighthouse is built on the top of a conical rock opposite the Land's 
End, in Cornwall. In severe weather the waves break above the 
lantern, which is seventy-nine feet above high-water mark. There 
is a cavern under this lighthouse, at the end of a long slip in the 
rock, and during a heavy sea the noise produced by the escape of 
the pent-up air from the cavern is so great that the keepers can 
hardly sleep. It is said that one man, newly appointed, was so ter- 
rified by the noise that his hair turned white. The great rock on 
which the Caskets Lighthouse is erected, in the Channel, is thirty 
feet above the level of the sea. The force of the elements is some- 
times severely tried on these isolated structures. In the storms of 
winter the wind howls furiously around them, and the sea, provoked 
by its violence, and receiving the additional impulse of the tidal 
current, dashes enormous volumes of water over the rock, striking 
and often damaging the lights. In 1823 a fearful storm entirely 
destroyed them. A small plot of ground is cultivated with a few 
vegetables on the Casket Rocks ; but the whole of the earth em- 
ployed for this purpose was brought from the island of Alderney. 

In many lighthouses there is a great want of ventilation, the 
lanterns being very hot and close. The eyes of the keepers occa- 
sionally suffer from the glare. The want of fresh vegetables some- 
times induced a tendency to scurvy, for which lime-juice and other 
remedies are now provided. 



a* LIGHTHOUSE STRUCK BY A WATER-SPOUT. 

In the reports connected wifh lighthouses, published by the 
Trinity Board, instances of insanity among the keepers are men- 
tioned; also loss of memory in others, and inability to perform 
duty in consequence of injuries received. One poor fellow, James 
Clarke, aged thirty-two, is stated to be in the receipt of a pension, 
in consequence of mental imbecility occasioned by fright and 
wounds received at a fire in a lighthouse, when his wife and five 
children were suffocated. One day, in 1862, two black flags were 
seen hoisted on the top of the Longship Lighthouse. It was a dis- 
tress signal. Of the three men who inhabited the tower the one 
on duty at the time stabbed himself in a fit of insanity. His com- 
panions had endeavoured to staunch the blood. The sea was so 
rough and the landing so dangerous that it was some time before 
the wounded man could receive proper attention, and he died just 
after being conveyed on shore. 

The present lighthouse on the Bishop's Rock, at Scilly, which 
occupies the site of a building destroyed in 1850 during a violent 
storm, is so difficult of access that the men in charge on coming 
from shore never approach it without their life-belts. They have 
to leap out of the boat on to a rock as smooth as marble, and if 
the foot slips, or the hand fails to grasp the angles of the rock, the 
man is hurled into the sea. This lighthouse was struck, in i860, by 
a water-spout, which carried away its bell, hung one hundred feet 
above the ordinary high-water level. 

" The startled waves leap over it; the storm 
Smites it with all the scourges of the rain; 
And steadily against its solid form 

Press the great shoulders of the hurricane." 

A few years ago, a lighthouse which stood on a point called the 
" Double Stanners," between Lytham and Blackpool, and which 
had given signs of insecurity, was noticed by the keepers, one 
night, to vibrate more than usual. The next morning they dis- 
covered that a portion of the front had fallen down, and that nearly 
all the foundation was undermined by the sea. They removed their 
furniture, but left the necessary implements to light the lamps. At 
nightfall the high tide surrounded thein f and the wind blew with 



1^ LONGS TONE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE DARLINGS. 409 

such violence that there was very little hope of the building holding 
out until morning ; but still the light had never shone more bril- 
liantly than on that night. The lighthouse was swept away next 
day; the keepers, however, had taken warning in time and escaped. 
The most interesting associations connected with lighthouse- 
keepers centre in the family of the Darlings, of the Longstone 
Lighthouse. The name of Grace Darling is inseparably allied to it. 
The wonderful courage and humanity displayed by her on the occa- 
sion of the wreck of the " Forfarshire " steamer, in 1838, has often 
been related. The Fame Islands, where this event occurred, lie off 
the Northumbrian coast. They are a group of barren and desolate 
rocks, inhabited chiefly by sea-fowl, and their sides are in many 
parts exceedingly precipitous. Through the channels between the 
smaller Fame Islands the sea rushes with great impetuosity, and, 
doubtless, many a shipwreck of which there is no record has oc- 
curred there in former times, when there was no warning light to 
guide the seaman on his way through the deep. It was on one of 
the rocks I have mentioned that the " Forfarshire " struck, and was 
broken into two pieces ; the after-part, containing the cabin and 
many passengers, being carried off by a rapid current, and the fore- 
part remaining on the rock, with the remainder of its living freight 
exposed to instant destruction. Soon after daybreak the wreck was 
seen from the Longstone Lighthouse, nearly a mile distant, by the 
Darlings. A mist hovered over the island, and though the wind 
had abated, the sea was raging fearfully, making any approach to the 
rugged pinnacles and sunken rocks which surround these islands a 
work of extreme peril. Even at a later period of the day, a reward 
of five pounds, offered by the steward of Bamborough Castle, could 
not induce a party of fishermen to venture from the mainland. To 
have braved the dangers of that terrible passage would have done 
the highest honour to the well-tried nerves of the stoutest of the 
male sex ; but what shall be said of the errand of mercy being 
undertaken and accomplished through the strength of a female 
heart and arm ? Through the dim mist, with the aid of a glass, the 
figures of the sufferers were seen clinging to the wreck. Darling, 
it i5 said ? shrunk from the attempt to succour them 2 considering 



4io WONDERFUL COURAGE OF GRACE DARLING. 

the case hopeless; but at his daughter's solicitation the boat was 
launched, with the assistance of Mrs. Darling, the father and 
daughter entering it, and each taking an oar. 

In estimating the danger which the heroic adventurers risked, 
there is one circumstance which should be remembered. Had it 
not been ebb-tide the boat could not have passed between the 
islands, and they knew that the tide would be flowing on their 
return, when their united strength would be utterly insufficient to 
row the boat back to the lighthouse island; so that without the 
assistance of the survivors on their return, they themselves would 
have been compelled to remain on the rock, beside the wreck, 
until the tide again ebbed. It must have been to the Darlings 
but a forlorn hope ; but their courage rose with the emergency — 
God's blessing accompanied them — and their efforts were crowned 
with success. The whole of the survivors of the wreck, nine in 
number, were received in the little bark, and conveyed in safety to 
the lighthouse. Here, owing to the violent seas which continued 
to prevail, they were obliged to remain two days, during which 
time they received every kindness and comfort that the Darlings 
could give. The subsequent events of Grace Darling's life are 
soon told. The noble deed she had done may be said to have 
wafted her name all over the world. The lonely Longstone Light- 
house became speedily the centre of attraction to sympathizing 
thousands, including many of the wealthy and great, who testified 
in several instances, by substantial tokens, the feelings with which 
they regarded the young heroine. A public subscription soon 
amounting to seven hundred pounds was raised for her, but with 
a modesty and good sense allied to her other noble qualities, she 
continued to reside at the lighthouse with her father and mother, 
finding in her limited sphere of domestic duty on that sea-girt isle, 
a more honourable and a more rational enjoyment than she could 
have derived in the crowded haunts of the mainland. Grace Darling 
did not live long in the enjoyment of the honours that had been 
showered upon her, dying of consumption the 2 5th of October, 1842, 
at the age of twenty-seven, and four years after the occurrence which 
has rendered her name so famous. 



FLOATING LIGHTS. 411 

I have confined my remarks to lighthouses, but I must not omit 
to mention the Floating Lights, which also render invaluable ser- 
vices as sea sentinels. Many of them are placed in very exposed 
positions, but seldom go adrift, and I believe there is no instance 
011 record where the crew have abandoned their perilous stations 
in stormy weather. When the vessels appropriated to this purpose 
have been driven from their moorings — and the rarity of such an 
occurrence has made it remarkable — the vessels have always been 
replaced in a very short time. None have ever been wrecked, and 
it does not appear that the lights, so indispensable to the safety 
of passing ships, have ever been accidentally extinguished. The 
Trinity House vessels are painted red ; in Ireland they are black 
with a white streak. These two colours seem to contrast best with 
the colour of the sea. They are all distinguished by balls hoisted 
at the mastheads of the vessels, and by other signals. In foggy 
weather gongs are used as a warning to ships. 

A considerable number of birds are caught at lighthouses : 

" The sea-bird wheeling round them with the din 
Of wind, and wings, and solitary cries, 
Blinded and maddened with the light within, 
Dashes itself against the glare, and dies.*' 

At the "Smalls" woodcocks have been caught in September, 
as also larks, starlings, and blackbirds. The keeper once secured 
a young seal by descending quietly while the animal was sleeping 
on the rock, and placing a bag in front of him, into which the seal 
went on being stirred up. At Roche Point Lighthouse, Queens- 
town, on one occasion a duck got into the lantern through the cowl, 
and fluttering around, broke all the chimneys and extinguished the 
lights. 

At Calais Lighthouse, the lantern is surrounded by a wire net, 
and its use is practically seen as a museum of stuffed birds, all of 
which have been caught or killed themselves at the light. The 
collection contains many rare small birds, a bittern, some large 
cormorants, and a swan. The latter flew against the lantern while 
the keeper of the lighthouse was engaged in cleaning the glass. 
The bird broke the panes, and injured the lens so much that one 



412 BIRDS CAUGHT AT LIGHTHOUSES. 

hundred and sixty pounds were expended in repairing it. The 
man said that the force with which the swan struck the glass was 
so great, that he might have been killed if he had not been seated 
at his work. The crash above his head was awful. 

In concluding these brief notices of lighthouses, I trust you will 
often think of the lonely watchers to whose care they are entrusted 
with feelings of the deepest interest, for the lives of many brave 
men, and the security of valuable vessels, depend upon their vigi- 
lance and unceasing attention. 

" See ! on the stormy brow of night 
A star ! a hope ! a bursting light ! 
At its sudden gleam despair has fled — 
'Tis the light, the hallow'd light of the Head ! 
We are safe ! we are safe ! there is help at hand! 
Glad voices that hail us from the strand. 
We are safe ! we are safe ! there is help at hand ! 
God bless the Lights of our native land!" 



^&? JtoQA** 





INDEX 




Adventures with the walrus, 108 
Affection of the Polar bear to its young, 115 
,, walrus ,, 109 

,, whales „ 67, 68 

Albatross, the, 244 
"Almirante," treasures recovered from the 

wreck of the, 362 
American accounts of the sea-serpent, 256 

,, Submarine Company, 361 
Ammonite, the, 201 

Anecdotes connected with the whale fishery, 
80 
„ of tame seals, 53 

„ of a Dutch whaling crew, 68 
,, ,, seaman, 81 

Anemones, beauty of sea, 188 

„ their power of reproducing or- 

gans, 190 
Angel-shark, the, 101 
Angler, the, or fishing-frog, 332 
Animalculse in a drop of water, 122 
Animal life in the ocean, minute, 119 
Animated sentinels of the seas, 409 
Anning, Mary, discovery of fossils by, 249 
Apollo, colossal statue of, at Rhodes, 392 
Apparatus for sea-soundings, 131 
Apparitions at 6ea, 241 
Archer-fish, the, 345 
Archipelago, the Indian, 17 
Artie and Antarctic circles, 26 
,, explorers, courage of, 23 
„ ,, descriptions of icebergs by, 

3i 

„ regions, dryness of the air in the, 45 

„ „ horrors of the, 30 

„ ,, modern expeditions to the, 24 

,, „ summer and sunrise in the, 44 

Argand lamps in lighthouses, 404 
Argonaut, difference between the, and the 

nautilus, 198 



Atlantic Ocean, the, 12 

,, ,, highway of commerce*, 

12 
„ ,, origin of the name, 12 

,, ,, submarine cable in the, 

12 
Atmospheric influences on the ocean, 208 
Attack on a vessel by a whale, 80 

,, on the whale, 75 
Auk, the great, 373 

,, razor-bill, 374 
Aurora borealis, the, 210 
Australia, 17 



Baiting the shark, 94 

Balboa, discovery of the Pacific by, 13 

Banner-fish, the, 346 

Battles between the walrus and the Polar 

bear, no 
Barnacle, supertitions respecting the, 245 
Basse, the, or sea-perch, 343 
Beacons, 394 

Bearded or great seals, 50 
Bears, Polar, 107, 113, 114, 116 
Beautiful fishes, 337 
Beauty of coral beds, 133 
,, sea-anemones, 188 

„ < ,, worms, 126 

Bell, the diving, 352 

,, Rock lighthouse, 399 
Bells, superstitions of seamen regarding, 24 2 
Birds, booby, 388 

„ caught at lighthouses, 411 

„ frigate, 387 

,, preying on molluscs, 305 

„ sea, 363 

,, tropical sea, 386 
Black-backed gull, the great, 368 

,, headed ,, 367 
Bladder, the sea, 199 



4U 



INDEX. 



Blenny, or butterfly-fish, the, 346 

Blessing the waters of the Neva, 240 

Blubber of whales, its use, 60 

Blue sharks, 101 

Boar-fish, the, 342 

Bore, the, 226 

Boundaries of the Indian Ocean, 19 

Bream, the sea, 341 

Brill, the, 294 

British Museum, fossil marine animals in the, 

248 
Brookes's apparatus for sea soundings, 131 
Buckland's description of the ichthyosaurus, 

249 



Cable, submarine, in the Atlantic, is 

Cachalot whale, the, 62 

Candle-fishes, how caught, 275 

Capture of whales, a great, 65 

Carnivorous fishes, 320 

Carrageen moss, 161 

Caul, superstitions respecting a child's, 242 

Causes of whirlpools, 7 

Caviare, how prepared, 280 

Ceylon moss, 161 

Changing colours of the dolphin, 338 

,, icebergs, 32 

Choetodon, beauty of the, 183, 341 
Chimaera, the, or rabbit-fish, 349 
China seas, submarine beauty of the, 182 
Chinese, birds trained to fish by the, 270 

,, pearl fisheries, 152 
Cingalese ,, g divers, 149 
Clure, Captain Mc, discovery of the North- 
West Passage by, 25 
,, perilous journey of, 22 

Coal-fish, the, 293 
Cod fishery, the, 291 
Cold, human endurance of, 21 
Coldness of the ice regions, reason of the, 27 
Colossus of Rhodes, 392 
Colours, beautiful, of sea-weeds, 158 
„ „ shells, 151 

,, of the ocean, 11 
Columbus and the Gulf-weed, 155 
Composition of shells, 173 

„ water, 4 

Conger, the great sea, 281 
Conybeare's description of the plesiosaurus, 

249 
Cook, Captain, adventure with a walrus, 108 

„ voyages of, 17 

Coral beds, beauty of, 133 

„ builders, wonders of the, 136 

s, formerly supposed a marine plant, 134 

11 polyps described, 135 

„ reefs, perils of the, 138 

„ ,, shipwreck on, 138 

„ superstitions regarding, 145 
Corduan, the Tour de, lighthouse, 394 
Cormorant, the, 375 

„ „ fishing by, 143 

Crabs, how taken, 296 

,, hermit, 297 
Crows guides to seamen, 243 



Cruise among the whales, 70 
Currents of the ocean, 5 
„ effects of, 7 
,, tidal influence on, 9 
Cuttle-fish, the, 204 

,, mode of taking, 206 

Cuvier, wonderful anatomical knowledge of, 

251 
Cyclones, 225 



Dangers of whalers from the ice, 84 

,, from^ icebergs, 34 
Darling, heroic conduct of Grace, 408 
Day, disastrous fate of John, 359 
Dead bodies at sea ominous to sailors, 246 
" Daedalus," sea-serpent seen by the crew of 

the, 256 
Deductor whale, the, 64 
Deep, monsters of the, 248 
Depth of the ocean, 10 
Derivation of " fossil," 248 

„ "gurnard," 323 

Description of the ichthyosaurus, 249 
„ sponges, 167 

,, submarine scenery, 185 

Devil, the sea, 320 

Dexterity of the New Zealand fishermen, 78 
Difference between the argonaut and true 

nautilus, 198 
Different species of seals, 49 
Discovery of the North- West Passage, 25 
,, „ Pacific Ocean, 13 

„ „ relics of Sir John Franklin, 

Diver-birds, the, 372 
Diving apparatus, 357 
„ bell, the, 352 

„ ,, employed to recover sunken trea- 
sures, 353 
„ „ at the Polytechnic Institution, 358 
„ „ Smeaton's application of, to build- 
ing uses, 358 
Diving-dress, the, 359 
Dog-fish, the, 101, 287 
Dolphins attack the flying-fish, 339 
„ changing colours of, 338 
,, supposed to foretell storms, 245 
Domestication of the walrus, in 
Dory, the John, 341 ^ 
Dover, the Roman lighthouse at, 393 
Dragons, sea, 248 
' ' Dreadnought" ship attacked by a sword-fish, 

336 
Droll ceremonies at sea, 73 
Dugong, the, 264 
Dulse sea-weed, the, 161 



Eagle, the great sea, 381 

Earliest notices of lighthouses* g§6 - 
,, voyages in the Indian Ocean, ig 
,, ,, Pacific ,, 17 

Earthquakes at sea, 227 



INDEX 



41 S 



Edda, traditions of the sea-serpent in the, 257 
Eddystone rocks, Smeaton's lighthouse on 

the, 395 
Eel, the electric, 318 
Eels, fishing for sand, 282 
Effect of currents, 7 
Electric fishes, 316 

„ illumination of lighthouses, 405 
,, i light, fishing by the, 270 
Enemies of the oyster, 304 
Equipment of whaling-ships, 72 
Escape from an iceberg, 35 

,, of a whaling crew, 82 
Esquimaux attack on whales, 61 

„ capture of seals by the, 47 

„ clever workpeople, 46 

„ kayaks, or skin boats, 47 

„ preparations for fishing, 46 

„ „ of blubber, 46 

,, women's boats of the, 61 

Etelis, the ruby-coloured, 184 
Experiments on sponges by Ellis and Grant, 

165 
Extraordinary strength of sharks' teeth, 95 



Fight between a whale and a grampus, 66 
Fishermen, superstitions of, 233 

,, < " good luck " among, 246 
Fishes, air-bladder of, 312 

„ banner, 346 

„ beautiful, 339 

„ blenny, 346 

„ boar, 342 

„ bodies of, 312 

„ brain of, 315 

„ bream, sea, 341 

,, brill, 294 

„ candle, 275 

„ carnivorous, 320 

„ choetodon, 183, 345 

„ chimsera, 349 

„ circulation of blood in, 312 

j, coal, 293 

,, cross-bow, 182 

„ cuttle, 204 

„ Dory, John, 341, 

„ eggs of, 315 

„ electric, 316 

„ etelis, 184 

„ eyes of, 313 

„ fins of, 311 

,, flying, 326 

„ „ attacked by dolphins, 339 

„ form of, 311 

,, fox-shark, 341 

» frog, 332 

„ gilt-heads, 341 

t> goby, 326, 346 

„ goldsinny, 348 

„ goramy, 326 

„ gurnards, 323, 326 

,? jelly, 121 

„ king, or opah, 34a 

•» ling, 293 



Fishes, lumpsucker, 320 

„ maigre, 329 

,, mesoprion, 344 

,, mullet, red, 342 

,, musical, 328 

,, odds and ends about, 310 

,, onion-shaped, 346 

„ parrot, 347 

,, perch, sea, 342 

„ pilot, 103 

„ pipe-mouthed, 348 

j, plectropoma, 344 

„ pogonia, 329 

„ porpoise, 276 

„ respiration of, 312 

j, riband-shaped, 346 

,, rock, 348 

,, ruminating, 348 

,, scabbard, 346 

,, scales of, 313 

,, scaly-finned, 345 

,, sea-devil, 330 

,, „ horse, 348 

„ „ owl snail, 320 

„ ,, scorpion, 324 

„ seranus, lettered, 344 

„ „ spiny, 344 

„ smell of, 312 

„ snail slime, 198 

„ stinging, 318 

,, sucking, 320 

„ tail of, 311 

,, taste of, 313 

,, teeth of, 313 

,, torpedo, 317 

„ trumpet, 348 

„ trygon, 318 

,, turbot, 294 

,, uses of, 315 

,, weever, the great, 318 

,, wrasse, 347 
Fisheries, cod, 290 

,, pearl, 148 

,, sardine, 290 

„ sponge, 166 

,, whale, 70 
Fishing, birds trained for, 271 

„ by electric light, 270 

„ torchlight, 275 

„ dexterity of the cormorant in, 375* 

„ for gars, 277 

„ sand-eels, 282 

„ sturgeon, 279 

„ hawk, or osprey, 383 

„ mode of, in various countries, 268 

„ of the South Sea Islanders, 272 

,, tackle, 273 
Floating lights at sea, 411 

„ navigators of the ocean, 194 

,, wing-shells, 203 
Fog, red, at sea, 229 
Food of seals, 52 

,, whales, 59 

Fossil, derivation of the term, 248 

„ nautili, 200 

„ marine animals, 248 

„ teeth of sharks, 89 



4i6 



WDE2t> 



Fossil remains at Lyme Regis, 249 

French lighthouses, 404 

Frigate-birds, 387 

Frozen Ocean, the, 20 

,, fantastic forms of icebergs 

in, 32 
„ fearful accident in, 27 

,, Franklin's death in, 24 

,, repelling features of, 20 

„ to death, 28 

Fur seal, the, 50 



Gann, John, the diver, 360 

Gannet, the, 378 

Gar, the, 277 

Gardens, submarine, 18S 

Gilt-head, the, 341 

Glaucus, the, 196 

Goby, the, 346 

Goldsinny, 348 

"Good luck" of fishermen, 246 

Goramy, the, 326 

Grampus, pugnacity of the, 66 

Greenland bear, the, 113 

„ icebergs formed in, 33 

,, shark, the, 102 

Guillemots, the, 372 
Gulf-Stream, the, 5 

,, weed, the, 156 
Gulls, 365 

,, sea, an omen to sailors, 244 

„ black-headed, 367 

„ formerly a delicacy of the tabic, 3$ 

„ glaucous, 366 

„ herring, or silvery, 368 

„ Iceland, 367 

„ kittiwake, 368 

„ little, the, 367 

„ rapacity of, 366 

„ tricks played upon, 367 
Gurnard, derivation of the name, 323 
„ flying, the, 326 
„ group of fishes, 323 



Habits of seals, 52 

Haddock, the, 293 

Hakes, mode of taking, 287 

Haloes, 213 

Hammer-headed shark, the, ioi 

Harp-seal, the, 250 

Height of waves, 9 

Hermit-cr^b, the, 297 

Herring fishery, the, 285 
„ or silvery gull, 368 
„ mode of curing the, 286 

Hippocampus, or sea-horse, 348 

Historical renown of sea-lampreys, 322 

Hooks for shark-fishing, 97 

Hooper, the, or wild swan, 381 

Horrible fate of seamen from sharks, 99 

Horrors of an Arctic winter, 30 



Hull a wfialing station, 71 

„ curious customs at, 71 
Human endurance of cold, 21 
Hurricanes, 225 

I. 

Ice, accumulation of "packed," 43 
,, blink, 214 

,, dangers of whalers from the, 84 
Icebergs, 30 

,, changing tints of, 30 
„ dangers arising from, 34 
„ described by navigators, 30 
,, escape from, 35 
,, fantastical shapes of, 30 
„ formed in Greenland, 33 
„ great height and length of, 33 
, j one of the wonders of the ocean, 30 
„ origin of, 33 
„ picnic on, 37 

,* provision of nature regarding, 38 
„ sublimity of, 35 
„ vessels destroyed by, 35 
,, ,, mooring to, 36 

Ice-field, Scoresby's deliverance from an, 39 
Iceland gulls, 367 
Icthyosaurus described, 249 
Illumination of lighthouses, 403 
Incident, fearful, in the frozen seas, 27 
Indian Archipelago, the, 17 
,, Ocean, boundaries of, 10, 
,, ,, earliest voyages on the, 19 

Indiscriminate appetite of sharks, 90 
Influence of ocean currents, 5 

,, winds, 9 

Inhabitants of sea-weeds, 123 
Instinct of the coral insects, 143 
Isinglass, 310 

Intervention of sea-saints, 234 
Islands, floating, 255 
„ of the Pacific, 18 
„ pearl, the, 150 
,, volcanic, 227 
Ives, St., pilchard fishery at, c?3 



Jelly-fish, medusa, or, 122 
Jumping-Johnnies, 128 



Kane, Dr., on human endurance of cold, 22 

Kayaks, or skin boats of the Esquimaux, 47 

Keepers, lighthouse, 405 

Kelp, value of, 162 

Kilda, St., sea-eagle destroyed at, 383 

King-fish, the, 342 

Kittiwake gull, the, 36? 

Kraken, the, 254 



Lamprey, the, 322 
Laver sea-weed, 16s 



INDEX. 



417 



Lettered seranus, the, 344 
Lighthouses, Bell-Rock, 399 

birds caught at, 411 

Bishop Rock, 408 

Caskets, 407 

Colossus of Rhodes, 392 

earliest allusions to, 390 

effects of storms on, 407 

electric light in, 405 

floating lights, 411 

French, 404 

Grace Darling and the "Long- 
stone," 409 

height of, 402 

illumination of, 403 

keepers of, 405 

lamp of Diogenes, 392 

Longship, 408 

management of, 395 

Pharos, the oldest of, 391 

,, Roman, at Dover, 393 

Rudyard's Eddystone, 396 

signals in, 402 

Smeaton's Eddystone, 398 

Skerryvore, 401 

stone, 402 

Tour de Corduan, 394 

Winstanley's Eddystone, 395 



Mackerel, the, 341 

„ fishery, 283 

Magellan's voyages, 16 
Magnus, Olaus, on sea-monsters, 261 
Magpies ominous, 244 
Maigre-fishes, 329 
Manatee or sea-cow, 264 
Marbled seal, the, 53 
Marine fossil animals, 248 

,, prodigies, 253 

,, sticklebacks, 324 
Martyn on the colour of the ocean, iz 
Medusa or jelly-fish, 121 
Mediterranean Sea, the, 13 
Merman seen off Norway, 263 
Mermaids, exhibition of stuffed, 267 

„ and mermen, 261 

Mcesasaurus described, 251 
Mesoprion, the one-spotted, 344 
Milky sea, a, 11 

Minute animal life in the ocean, 119 
Miracles at sea, 232 
Mirage, the, 208 
Mode of curing pilchards, 289 

„ fishing in various countries, 268 

„ taking the sea-conger, 281 

„ „ crabs, 296 

„ „ cuttle-fish, 206 

„ „ gar-fish, 277 

ti . „ haddocks, 293 

t , „ hakes, 287 

„ „ herrings, 285 

„ „ pilchards, 287 

»» » prawns, 299 

w „ Sbfmips, 299 



Mode of taking sprats, 290 
. „ „ tunnies, 278 

„ „ turbots, 294 

„ „ turtle, 295 

,, „ whitebait, 290 

Modern expeditions to the Polar seas, 24 
Molluscs, enemies of the, 305 
Monarch of the ocean, the, 57 
Monk seal, the, 55 
Monsoons, 223 
Monsters of the deep, 248 
Monstrous skate, a, 332 
Mullet, red, 342 
Musical fish, 328 
Mussel "farms," 300 



Narwahl, the, 106 
Nautili, fossil, 200 
Nautilus, fables respecting the, 195 

„ the pearly, 197 

,, the, a wonderful builder, 190 
Navigators, floating, of the ocean, 194 
Nelson's encounter with a Polar bear, 11S 
" Neptune's Easy Shaving Shop," 73 
Nereids, the, 127 
Nettles, sea, 124 
Nets : seine, trawl and drift, 269 
,, used in earliest times, 268 
Northern rorqual, the, 62 
North-West Passage, 25 



o. 

Ocean, Atlantic, the, 12 

„ divisions of the, 13 
„ origin of the name, 12 
„ submarine cable in the, is 
boundaries of the Indian, 19 
earliest voyages in „ 19 
colour of the, 11 
depth of the, 10 

the, essential to man's existence, 3 
facilities of intercourse by the, 3 
floating navigators of the, 194 
Frozen, the, 20 
glaucus, a rower on the, 196 
currents of the, 5 
luminosity of the, 216 
marine production of the, 3 
minute animals of the, 119 
monarch of the, 57 
Pacific, the, 16 

,, discovery of the, 13 
„ early voyages on the, 17 
„ origin of the name, 16 
phenomena of the, 208 
pirate of the, 19 
punishing a pirate of the, 93 
profusion of life in the, 120 
rock-builders of the, 132 
saltness of the, 4 

superstitions connected with the, 231 
vegetation of the, 155 
Odds and eads about fishes, 310 

27 



4i8 



INDEX. 



Oil, quantity of whale, 60 
Old wives of the sea, 347 
Oldest lighthouse, the, 391 
Omens from birds, &c, 243 
Omiak, or Esquimaux boat, 61 
Onion-fish, the, 346 
Opah, the, or king-fish, 342 
Oriental pearls, 151 
Origin of icebergs, 33 

„ pearls, 151 

„ tides, 8 
Osprey, the, or fishing-hawk, 383 
Otaries, seal, 55 

Owen, Professor, on the sea-serpent, 257 
Oyster-farming, 303 

„ ememies of the, 304 



Pacific Ocean, discovery of the, 13 

,, „ early voyages in the, 17 

„ ,, islands of the, 18 

„ ,, Magellan's voyage to the, 16 

,, „ origin of the name, 16 

Parhelia, or mock suns, 213 
Parrot-fish, the, 347 

Parry, Sir Edward, on arctic rigours, 22 
Pearl Islands, the, 150 
Pearls, Cingalese divers for, 147 

„ fishing for, in China, 152 

„ ,, in the Persian Gulf, 14S 

„ Oriental, 151 

,, origin of, 151 

,, preparation of, 151 
Pearly nautilus, the, 197 
Peculiarities of the hermit crab, 297 

„ „ pelican, 357 

Perch family, the, 342 

„ sea, 343 
Perils of the coral reefs, 138 

„ „ whale fishery, 79 

Perilous escape from water-spouts, 220 
Peterhead a whaling station, 71 
Periwinkle, the, 300 
Petrels, 369 

„ stormy, 243, 370 
Phaeton, tropical sea-birds, 386 
Phantom ship, the, 236 
Pharos, the, 391 
Phenomena of the ocean, 208 

,, „ tides, 9 

Phoca vitulina, or sea-calf, 49 
Phipps, William, 383 
Physalis, its stinging properties, 319 
Picnic on an iceberg, 37 
Pilchards, curing of, 289 

„ mode of taking, 287 
Pilot-fish, the, 103 
Pipe-mouthed fishes, 348 
Pirate of the ocean, the, 89 
Plectropoma, the beautiful, 344 
Plesiosaurus described, 249 
Poetry of the sea, 2 
Polar bear, the, 107 
„ „ battle between the walrus and 

the, no 
„ „ a, in a boat, 116 



Polar bear in the Tower, 118 

,, „ Nelson's encounter with a, 1 17 
Polyps, coral, 135 
Polytechnic Institution, diving-bell at the, 

358. 
Porpoise, the, formerly a royal dish, 277 

„ „ mistaken for the sea-serpent. 

,, „ white, fishing for the, 278 

Portuguese man-of-war, the, 199 
Prawns, 299 

Preference of sharks for human food, 9$ 
Preparations for seal-hunting, 46 

,, whale fishing, 70 

Proboscis, the, or elephant-seal, 54 
Prodigies, marine, 253 
Profusion of life in the ocean, 120 
Provision of Nature regarding icebergs, 38 
Power of sea-anemones to reproduce organs, 

188 
Punishing a shark, 93 
Puffin, the, 374 
Pugnacity of the squas, 369 



Rabbit-fish, the, 349 

Rapacity of gulls, 366 

Rats leaving ships, 242 

Red mullet, the, 342 

Remora, the, 321 

Riband-fishes, 258 

Risks attending cutting up whales, 83 

Rock-builders of the ocean, 132 

„ „ „ instinct of the, 143 

Rock-fish, the, 348 
Rondelet's wonderful fishes, 254 
" Royal George," wreck of the, 356 
Rudyard's lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock, 

397 . 
Ruminating fishes, 348 



Saltness of the ocean, 4 
Sand-eel fishing, 282 
Sardine „ 290 
Sargassum or Gulf-weed, 156 
Saw and sword-fishes, 67, 334 
Scabbard-fishes, 246 
Scallops, 304 
Scaly-finned fishes, 345 
Scoresby, anecdotes of, 81, 87 
Scriptural allusion to the ocean, 2 
Seals, 44 

,, bear, 56 

,, bearded, 50 

,, blubber of, how prepared, 46 

,, elephant, 54 

„ Esquimaux hunting of, 47 

„ food of, 52 

„ formerly considered luxuries, 47 

„ fur, 50 

„ harp, 50 

„ leopard, 55 

„ lion, 56 

„ marbled, 53 



INDEX. 



419 



Seals, monk, 55 

of the Southern seas, 54 
otaries, 55 

preparation for hunting, 46 
skins of, 46 

sometimes dangerous, 48 
taken on the ice, 48 
tame, 53 

various species of, 49 
Sea-weeds, beautiful colours of, 158 

„ bladder, 159, 199 

„ dulse, 161 

„ fan, 159 

„ fern-leaf, 159 

„ inhabitants of, 123 

„ kelp, 162 

„ laver, 161 

„ net, 159 

„ peacock s tail, 159 

„ sea-silk, 159 

„ thongs, 159 

„ tangle, 161 

„ tree, 159 

,, uses of, 160 

„ value of, 157 

„ variety of, 160 

„ water-flannel, 159 

,, whip-lash, 159 

Sentinels of the seas, the, 388 
Sharks, angel, 101 

„ attack on boats, 98 
„ baiting, 94 
„ blue, 101 
„ charmers of, 148 
„ dog, 101 
„ fossil teeth of, 89 
„ Greenland, 102 
„ hammer-headed, iox 
„ hooks for, 97 

„ horrible death of seamen from, 09 
„ indiscriminate appetite of, 90 
„ preference for human food of, 91 
„ punishing, 93 
„ scavengers of the ocean, 104 
„ smooth, 101 
„ spinous, 101 
„ teeth 01, 95 

„ vulnerable parts of, 92 r 

,, worship of, 96 
Shells, beautiful colours of, 171 
„ clam, 173 
,, cockle, 178 
„ composition of, 173 
„ cowry, 178 
M ear, 179 # 
„ floating wing, 203 
„ fountain, 175 
„ harp, 199 
„ helix, 173 
„ mother-of-pearl, 175 
„ murex or purple, 173 
„ pheasant, 180 
„ poached eggs, 179 
„ porcelain, 178 
„ razor, 180 
„ scallop, 177 
m spindle, 179 



Shells, strombus, 174 
„ structure of, 170 
„ top, 180 
„ trough, 180 
„ trumpet, 176 
„ use of, 174 
,, volute, 173 
,, weaver's shuttle, 179 
,, wentletrap, 180 
Ships, fearful loss of whale-, 71 
Shipwreck on a coral reef, 138 
Shrimp, the trigger, 300 
Shrimps, mode of taking, 299 
Signals in lighthouses, 402 
Skate, a monstrous, 332 
Skimmers, the, 371 
Snail-slime fishes, 198 
Solan goose, the, 378 
Soles, immense consumption of, 295 
South Sea islanders, expert fishermen, 2,70 
Sponges, 164 

,, description of, 167 
„ experiments of Ellis and Grant, 163 
,, mode of fishing for, 166 
,, where obtained, 166 
Sprats, how caught, 290 
Squas, the, 368 

„ pugnacity of, 367 
Stellerus, the, 265 

Stephenson's, Robert, lighthouse on the Bell- 
Rock, 399 
„ Allan, lighthouse on the 

Skerryvore, 401 
Sticklebacks, marine, 324 
Stinging-fish, 318 

,, powers of the physalis, 319 
Stories about cuttle-fishes, 205 
Sturgeon, the, a "royal" fish, 280 

„ fishery, 279 
Sublimity of icebergs, 35 
Submarine cable, Atlantic, 12 

„ Company, American, 361 
„ gardens, 188 
„ scenery, 181 _ 
„ „ brilliant colours of, 182 

„ „ in the Red Sea, 191 

,, „ of the tropics, 187 

Sucking-fishes, 320 
Suns, mock, 213 

Superstitions connected with the ocean, 231 
„ apparitions, 241 

,, bells, 242 

„ birds and marine animals, 243 

„ blessing the waters, 248 

,, child's caul, a, 242 

„ connected with coral, 145 

„ days of the week, 241 

„ dead bodies at sea, 246 

M " good luck," 246 

„ lightning at sea, 236 

ff of the Sardinian fishermen, 233 

„ phantom-ship, 236 

,, raising tempests, 238 

„ rats leaving ships, 242 

„ St. Elmo's lights, 237 

,, water-spouts, 236 

Swan, the wild, 381 

27— % 



1 



420 



INDEX. 



Tame seals, 53 

Tangle sea-weeds, 161 

Teleosaurus described, 251 

Tempests, raising, 238 

Tern, the, a good omen, 243 

Terns, or sea-swallows, 369 

Thor fishing for the sea-serpent, 359 

Tides, origin of, 8 

„ phenomena of the, 9 
„ rip, 215 

Tongues of whales, 60 

Tornadoes, 222 

Torpedo, 316 

Tower, a Polar bear in the, 1x8 

Trade-winds, the, 222 

Traditions of floating islands, 255 

"Trafalgar," escape of the whale-ship, 85 

Treasures recovered from the ocean, 351 

„ "Almirante,"36o 

„ "Lutine," 360 

M by William Phipps, 353 

„ from the "Royal 

George," 356 

Tree sea-weed, the, 159 

Tremendous power of waves, 10 

Tricks played upon gulls, 367 

Trinity Board, the, 395 

Tropic sea-birds, 386 

Tunny fishery, the, 278 

Turbot, the, 294 

Turtle, how captured, 295 



u. 

Unicorn, the sea, in 

Uses of the blubber of whales, 60 

„ nets in early times, 268 

f , sea-weeds, 160 

„ shells, 174 



Value of sea-weeds, 157 
Variety aud form of sea-weeds, 160 
Varieties of ccelacia, 58 
Vttfipiw colour* of Vie ocean, xz 




Vegetation of the ocean, 155 
Vessels destroyed by icebergs, 35 
„ ^ mooring to ,, 36 

Volcanic islands in the sea, 227 
Voyages, early, in the Pacific, 17 

„ of Captain Cook, 17 
Vulnerable part of sharks, 93 



Walrus, the, or sea-horse, 107 

„ adventures with, ro8 

„ affection to the young, 108, tog 

„ battles between the Polar bear 

and, 109, no 
„ domestication of, in 

Water, animalculae in a drop of, 122 
„ animal life in the deep, 129 
„ composition of, 4 
„ spouts, 219. 
Waves, highest known, 9 

,," tremendous force of, XO 
Weever, the great, 319 
Whirlpools, cause of, 7 
Whitebait, 290 
Whitstable diver, the, 361 
Wind-waves, 9 
Wing-shells, floating, 213 
Winstanley's lighthouse on Eddystone Rocl^ 
398 
„ mechanical ability of, 395 

Wonders of the coral builders, 136 
Worms, sea, T25 

,, wonderful beauty of, 126 

Worship of sharks in Polynesia, 96 
Wrasse, the, 347 



Yarmouth, herring fishery at, 285 
„ mackerel „ 285 



Zealand, New, gurnard, 232 
Zealanders, New, dexterity in fishing, j% 



a 






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BILLING AND J80N&, PRINTERS, GUH4>|0RD, SURREY. 







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